


Beyond the Horizon

by staringatthesky



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Canon Compliant, Drama, Family, Friendship, Gen, POV Female Character, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-07 18:08:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 48
Words: 120,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/751478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staringatthesky/pseuds/staringatthesky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rewrite of Breaking Dawn from Rosalie's point of view.<br/>Because sometimes your dreams do come true...for someone else. And even when you can live forever there are sometimes things worth dying for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Day Before

**Author's Note:**

> A/N- This is going to be the story of Breaking Dawn from Rosalie’s POV. In all major respects it will be canon-compliant (so yeah, there will be Jacob imprinting on Renesmee, sorry) and I’m going with book-Breaking Dawn rather than movie version. As with everything I write all the characters are the creation of and belong to Stephenie Meyer, with much love and thanks for giving us her Twilight world to play in!  
> Comments, questions, thoughts etc are always welcomed- I love hearing from readers and try my best to respond to everyone.
> 
> A/N- Just in case anyone is interested, the title for this comes from the Bob Dylan song ‘Beyond the Horizon’. These are the lyrics for it, just because I think there’s a lot in it that made me think of Cullen vampires, particularly in relation to the imagery of breaking dawn.
> 
> Beyond the horizon, behind the sun  
> At the end of the rainbow life has only begun  
> In the long hours of twilight 'neath the stardust above  
> Beyond the horizon it is easy to love
> 
> My wretched heart's pounding  
> I felt an angel's kiss  
> My memories are drowning  
> In mortal bliss
> 
> Beyond the horizon, in the Springtime or Fall  
> Love waits forever for one and for all
> 
> Beyond the horizon across the divide  
> 'Round about midnight, we'll be on the same side  
> Down in the valley the water runs cold  
> Beyond the horizon someone prayed for your soul
> 
> I'm touched with desire  
> What don't I do?  
> I'll throw the logs on the fire  
> I'll build my world around you
> 
> Beyond the horizon, at the end of the game  
> Every step that you take, I'm walking the same
> 
> Beyond the horizon the night winds blow  
> The theme of a melody from many moons ago  
> The bells of St. Mary, how sweetly they chime  
> Beyond the horizon I found you just in time
> 
> It's dark and it's dreary  
> I ponder in vain  
> I'm weakened, I'm weary  
> My repentance is plain
> 
> Beyond the horizon o'er the treacherous sea  
> I still can't believe that you've set aside your love for me
> 
> Beyond the horizon, 'neath crimson skies  
> In the soft light of morning I'll follow you with my eyes  
> Through countries and kingdoms and temples of stone  
> Beyond the horizon right down to the bone
> 
> It's late in the season  
> Never knew, never cared  
> Whatever the reason  
> Someone's life has been spared.
> 
> Beyond the horizon the sky is so blue  
> I've got more than a lifetime to live lovin' you.  
> \- Beyond the Horizon, by Bob Dylan

“What are you doing?” Emmett stomped into our room and kicked the door shut behind him, flopping out onto the bed beside me.

I looked up from my journal. “Practising the piano…can’t you tell?”

Emmett chuckled. “Defying Alice? You’re braver than I am.”

I grinned at him. “She’s over at the Swans’ house, doing final fittings for Charlie’s suit and Bella’s dress. I figure I’ve got another hour or so before she comes back and I’ll be at the piano by then. She’s too busy to waste time checking up on me and it’s Pachelbel’s Canon…as if I can’t play that in my sleep.”

“You don’t sleep,” Emmett pointed out.

“Well, then just think how much better I’ll be playing it when I’m awake,” I said brightly. “Really, Alice is being ridiculous about this wedding. I know I’m not Edward, but I’m a more than competent pianist…it’s practically insulting the way she insists upon me practising and stands there to criticise.”

“You should try being her decorating lackey,” Emmett grumbled. “Three miles of fairy lights on that damn driveway…and the flower garlands! Do you know how many ribbon bows I’ve tied today? Most of which Alice yelled at me about and then went and tied again anyway?”

I couldn’t help laughing at his disgruntled expression. “I can well imagine.” I flipped my journal across the room onto the desk and slid down the bed to lie beside him, looking up at the heavy silk canopy hanging above us.

“You don’t wish it was you?” Emmett asked, his voice gentle. “You don’t wish it was our wedding?”

I shook my head. “Not this time.” I smiled at him affectionately as I remembered those days when the fancy white dress was mine, and the flower garlands that Emmett hung were for us. “It’s about time it was Edward’s turn. And you,” I poked him hard in his chest. “Whatever you’re planning on saying in your speech…think again!”

Emmett looked wounded. “Are you implying that I might be inappropriate?”

I snorted. “Are you trying to tell me that you haven’t planned out some awful jokes and a speech full of cringe worthy innuendo?”

“But it’s so much fun to make Bella blush!” Emmett pouted. “And I’m not going to be able to do it much longer.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I know you enjoy teasing but for this wedding you need to behave. Just this once Emmett, for Edward.” My eyes drifted down to the ruby and diamond ring Edward had given Emmett so many years ago so he could propose to me the first time, and I remembered how instrumental Edward had been in bringing Emmett and I together. “Remember what we owe him.”

Emmett’s eyes on me were soft. “I know baby. I remember, and I’ll promise I’ll behave.” He stretched his arms over his head and his t-shirt rode up, exposing a few inches of his belly above his belt buckle that had my thoughts skittering away from the wedding and towards other, much more pleasant subjects. Almost without meaning to I reached over and lightly traced the line between his abs, pushing his shirt up as I followed it towards his chest. “You’re like an anatomy lesson,” I mumbled, mentally labelling all the muscles as my hands roamed across them.

“I think you need to make an in depth study to be sure,” Emmett’s voice was half amused, half desiring, and I smiled and rose up to brush my lips across his.

“You do, do you?” I slid the t-shirt easily over his head and began tracing the muscles that made up his neck and chest and shoulder, this time saying the names aloud.

Emmett watched me, his thighs clenching as I made my way lower, back down his belly and towards the bulge in the front of his jeans. “Jesus baby, you’re probably the only person in the world who can make the muscular system sound so fucking dirty,” he muttered, helpfully lifting up his hips so I could draw his jeans down and off his legs, tossing them carelessly off to the side.

I couldn’t help laughing as I slid my hand across the sole of his foot and began caressing his legs, continuing to name the muscles I could feel him flexing under my hands as I moved up his calves and thighs, my fingertips very gently brushing the skin on his groin and inner thighs as I named the muscles there.

“Hey,” he murmured. “There’s something kind of obvious there that could do with your attention...”

“What? This?” I ran my finger along the underside of his cock, which was lying up on his belly and getting harder by the minute, smiling as I heard Emmett’s unconscious growl of pleasure. “Sorry, that’s not a muscle,” I said, shrugging and taking my hands away. “Nothing to do with today’s lesson…maybe some other time.” I laughed at Emmett’s outraged expression and then shrieked as he grabbed me and pinned me underneath him.

“My turn then,” he said with a flash of his dimples that made my knees weak. “If you’re going to be such a tease, then I’m going to give you a lesson.”

“And just what do you plan to give a lesson on?” I gasped, as Emmett removed my clothes with much greater haste and much less care than I had taken with his.

“Emmett’s favourite body parts and what he likes to do to them.” He grinned at me devilishly, lowering his head so that he could flick at my breasts with his tongue. “And it’s also going to be a lesson on why Rosalie shouldn’t tease her Emmett…I’m gonna start right here because, oh look at what happens to these nipples when I do this…” he sucked hard, my nipples hardening and growing under his mouth. I half laughed and half groaned as I reached out towards him, but he gently slapped my hands away. “Nuh uh, you had your turn…too bad. I get to do _all_ the touching now baby, just for teaching purposes you know, and I’m not finished with my first favourite part yet. Or parts? There are two of them…”

His big hands cupped my breasts and squeezed them, his mouth once again on my nipples as I arched my back and pushed towards him with a tiny whimper. He kept all his attention on them, kisses and bites and squeezes and pinches and caresses until I was half crazy with wanting him to never stop and yet desperately wanting more.

Finally, he raised his head and looked at me with eyes gone black with want. “I think that about covers my first favourite part and what I like to do to them,” he said hoarsely, “and maybe now I’ll move on…”

Shamelessly I opened my legs for him, but Emmett laughed and nuzzled into my neck as he pushed my thighs back together. “Remember the second part of the lesson, baby? Why you shouldn’t tease me? You’re going to find out that I have _lots_ of favourite parts when it comes to your body…”

I groaned in frustrated desperation, but there was nothing I could do but enjoy the exquisite torture as Emmett demonstrated that there wasn’t an inch of my body that wasn’t his favourite part, and that he didn’t love to touch and taste and explore and play with. He made me writhe and he made me moan and he made me scream, and when he finally made me come I thought my stone vampire body might well shatter under the intensity of what he made me feel.

“I love you baby,” Emmett murmured into my hair as we lay together, slowly drifting back into reality.

I smiled up at him blissfully. “Mmm.” I noticed his eyes were lighter than they had been when he was looking at me, but still darker than normal. “You’re thirsty.”

“Yeah. Jas and I are taking Edward out tonight,” Emmett said lazily. “Bit of hunting for the last night of his bachelor freedom and all that…”

I snorted. “Bachelor freedom? Edward? You and Jasper do realise he’s spent the last two years watching Bella _sleep_ right?”

Emmett chuckled. “He can’t help being such a sad case.”

“So just hunting? No strippers?”

“You volunteering?”

I really laughed at that. “Please! Can you see Edward’s face if I _did?_!”

Emmett’s whole body shook with his own laughter. “Oh baby, _please_ …that would be epic.”

I shook my head and slid off the bed, heading into the wardrobe to find myself something to wear. I could hear voices coming from downstairs and looking at the darkening twilight through the window I realised I had long missed Alice’s return from the Swans’ house. I was half surprised she hadn’t come barging into my room to scold me for failing to practice the piano as she had ordered. She really had become a complete tyrant about Bella and Edward’s wedding.

Emmett joined me in the closet, digging out a pair of jeans that he’d already put the knees through and adding a plain t-shirt. “Denali clan are here,” he told me, helpfully zipping up my dress.

“Thank you,” I murmured, slipping on a pair of heels and rapidly brushing out my messy hair. “Are you and Jasper and Edward heading off now?”

“Edward’s not here,” Emmett said. “It looks like Jas and I will have to go over to Bella’s and drag him out. In a few weeks he’ll have her for eternity, I think he can give his brothers one night. Besides,” Emmett waggled his eyebrows and then raised them so high they nearly disappeared off his forehead, “If Edward is going to have any sort of honeymoon at all, he’d better not be thirsty…”

I grimaced, feeling the irritation flare. “Don’t talk to me about that. Of all the _stupid_ things Edward has done in regards to Bella Swan, this human-vampire honeymoon has to be the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard of…but then, it’s not like anyone asked me!” I rolled my eyes and took Emmett’s hand, and the two of us descended the stairs hand in hand to find out Alaskan cousins with Carlisle and Esme in the living room

“Rosalie!” Kate briefly clasped my hands. “And Emmett, it’s lovely to see you both again.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “We arrived a little while ago…good to know things between the two of you are going so well.”

Emmett chuckled unrepentantly as I closed my eyes in mortification. Living together as a family the way we did made some things unavoidable and I had long ago stopped wasting energy on embarrassment over what people overheard from Emmett and I, but I still had _some_ sense of decorum and in front of guests was something else!

Kate laughed wickedly at my discomfort. “Oh, don’t worry yourself Rosalie!”

“Rosalie _should_ be sorry,” came Alice’s lilting voice, doing her best to sound stern, as she and Jasper came gliding into the room. “She was supposed to be practising the piano, she _promised_ me she would, but what do I hear when I get home? Not Pachelbel’s Canon, that’s for sure!”

I threw up my hands in exasperation. “If the two of you don’t mind, can we please stop? Alice, you know I can play the music perfectly well. Don’t your visions tell you that? Kate, it’s lovely to see you too.” I rolled my eyes at the two of them and went to greet Carmen and Eleazer, then moving towards where Tanya was engaged in serious conversation with Carlisle and Esme.

“I had no idea she felt so seriously,” Carlisle said soberly.

Tanya shrugged. “We did not really understand it either, until you called and asked for her help when you were having trouble with Victoria and had made your alliance with the wolves. It all came out then, how strongly Irina had felt for Laurent and how his death at the feet of the wolves had been festering in her heart.” Tanya’s lovely face was troubled. “We feel very badly over it all Carlisle. I have long considered you family, and turning our backs on you at that time is not an act I am proud of.”

Carlisle shook his head. “Think no more on it Tanya. It’s water under the bridge now, and we’re just so happy to have you here for the wedding.”

Tanya smiled. “We’re delighted to be here. I’m sorry Irina felt unable to join us, but I’m sure in time…well. We’ll see.”

I gave her an answering smile, but I couldn’t stop the flare of irritation and unease. Bella Swan and her penchant for courting death had brought so much trouble to our family! For all I had been against her throwing her human life away for this seductive half-life of immortality, now that she was marrying Edward and it was all inevitable I couldn’t help but wish she’d just get it over with. Thinking about their planned honeymoon and the opportunities for disaster that still offered made my temper rise at the sheer pig headed stubbornness and stupidity of Edward and Bella.

An instant later I felt a sudden wave of sleepy good humour, and I couldn’t stop the smile even as I turned my head and tried to frown. “Not subtle, Jasper!”

Jasper gave me a lopsided smile in rueful acknowledgement. “It wasn’t meant to be Rose. The wedding is tomorrow- you need to calm down about it. One more day, a few weeks of honeymoon and then Edward will turn her and it will be done. Only a few more weeks, after all we’ve gone through…what can go wrong now?”


	2. The Wedding

 I spent the hours of night talking with our guests and helping Alice achieve her vision of bridal splendour. The house, where the ceremony was to take place and out back, where we would have a dance floor for the reception, dripped with Alice’s arrangements of blossoms and bows, and the air was heavy with the scent of the flowers. I even swallowed my distaste as I placed roses and had to admit that the final effect was glorious. Alice was a genius at this kind of thing, managing to walk the line between over the top tackiness and impeccable taste and always coming down firmly on the side of perfection.

I would never have admitted it to anyone, but I missed Emmett. Our lives were so intertwined and had been for so long that just knowing he was not near me left me with a queer, empty feeling of something missing. I did not begrudge him his night away hunting, but as the wedding day dawned I found myself unconsciously listening out for the noise of his Jeep and being glad that this time the hunting trip was only brief.

“I’m going to go and fetch Bella now.” Alice twirled into the kitchen, where I was sitting at the table while Esme painted my nails. She clapped her hands together in glee. “Aren’t weddings amazingly fun?” Her eyes landed on me speculatively. “Rosalie…” she began.

“I’m going to be nice!” I exclaimed in irritation. “I don’t know why you’re always expecting me to be nasty to Bella! Really Alice…”

“I wasn’t going to say any such thing!” she said, offended. “I was just going to suggest that perhaps you could offer to do Bella’s hair.”

“Oh,” I said, a little surprised. “Well, of course, if you want me to.”

“I do,” Alice smiled happily. “You’re better at braiding than I am. And it would be a nice gesture of friendship for you to make to Bella, since she is going to be our sister and the two of you are still…well, you can’t deny it’s still a little strained.” She looked at me reproachfully, and I fought my impulse to snarl at her. I think she knew though, because she giggled at me and then disappeared into the garage.

“As though it’s all my fault,” I grumbled to Esme. “It’s not as if Bella likes me either. She’s too influenced by Edward, and goodness knows he’s got eighty years’ worth of grievances against me.”

Esme finished my last nail and blew on them briefly, smiling sympathetically. “I’m sure it will all work out. You and Bella will have a long time to really get to know each other and bond as sisters quite apart from Edward, once all is said and done,” she said diplomatically, adding gently, “You need to forgive Bella for not making the choice you would have made Rosalie. She and Edward are happy together, and that’s what matters.”

“Do we know when it will happen?” I asked quietly, taking Esme’s hands and beginning to paint her nails.

A shadow of concern crossed Esme’s face. “Not precisely. Assuming all goes well on the honeymoon Edward will wait until they return home. He wants Carlisle to be there…just in case.”

“Emmett and I might go away,” I said slowly, the idea only just starting to take shape. “Maybe up to the cabin, just for a little while…I don’t want to be here when she changes.” I looked at Esme half defiantly. “I haven’t forgotten how horrible it was to watch Emmett suffer through that, and when I think Bella is making the wrong choice with it…well, there won’t be anything we can do, so we might just go away.”

Esme nodded. “I understand, and that would be fine.” She admired her manicure. “Lovely, thank you Rosalie. Now, I must just check on things outside,” she said with an anxious frown. “It’s quite some time since we’ve had such a number of human guests in the house and I’m a little concerned about the catering!”

Of course the caterers Alice had hired were nothing but the best and had everything well in hand, but there were any number of small tasks to keep us occupied throughout the morning. Alice returned with Bella and shut the two of them into her opulent bathroom, and after finishing off the interior decorations I went into my own bathroom and showered and began fixing my hair. It was while I was there that I heard the Jeep returning, and I listened to the sound of the engine with satisfaction. It sounded like it was in perfect working order, so at least Emmett hadn’t trashed it overnight. Not mechanically anyway…I’d have to go and look at it to see what body damage he’d done to it.

“Rosa girl!” Emmett came bounding into the bathroom.

“Don’t touch!” I said as he came towards me covered in dirt and blood and other things I didn’t want to think about, the way he always was after a hunt. He stopped dead, holding his hands up in surrender and dimpling at me.

“What? No kisses for your returning hunter?”

I met his eyes in the mirror. “Not when you’re as filthy as that and I’m nearly ready for the wedding!”

Emmett pouted and began stripping off his spoiled clothes. “Esme sent me upstairs for a shower,” he said. “Edward and Jasper are finishing off stuff outside. We had a good night last night- bears and mountain lions and all kinds of fun.”

“I’m glad,” I finished my hair and ignored Emmett’s longing look as I slipped into the silvery dress Alice had suggested I wear. “What do you think?”

He smiled at me lovingly. “You’re beautiful baby.”

I touched his full lower lip, which appeared to be cleaner than anywhere else on his body. “I love you,” I said softly. “Now, I promised Alice I’d go and play hairdresser for Bella, so you can shower in peace. And remember about your speech!” I added reprovingly. “No dirty innuendos or bad jokes please!” Laughing, I swept out of the room before he could answer.

Bella was seated in Alice’s bathroom, her face made up with exquisite care by Alice and looking as if she was about to burst into tears.

“They’re back,” I told them, and saw her lighten fractionally with the idea of Edward’s close proximity.

“Keep him out of here!” Alice sounded a little hysterical, and I patted her soothingly on her shoulder.

“He won’t cross you today,” I said reassuringly. “He values his life too much! Esme has them finishing things up out back. Do you want some help? I could do her hair.”

Bella’s eyes widened in shock; she really wasn’t good at hiding her emotions. What did she think I was going to do…tear out her hair rather than braid it? Really, I might not have been her best friend but since the time she went to Volterra to drag Edward back from his foolish suicide mission I’d never been anything but courteous to her.

“Sure,” Alice said brightly. “You can start braiding. I want it intricate. The veil goes here, underneath.” She combed her hands rapidly through Bella’s hair, demonstrating what she wanted me to do before leaving me to it.

I was a little surprised by how lovely Bella’s hair was as I stroked my hands through it, parting the heavy waves and smoothing it down. It had always just hung there on her head, or been tied back in a sloppy ponytail and smelling of cheap shampoo, but it was thick and healthy and the colour was a beautiful rich brown as it slipped through my fingers as I braided.

Alice worked on Bella’s face as I worked on her hair. Underneath the make-up Bella’s face was almost as white as mine, and I could see her hands shaking with nerves as she picked restlessly at her robe.

“Do you think you’re going to get her calm enough to walk down the aisle?” I murmured, vampire fast and so softly that Bella wouldn’t hear it.

Alice made an almost comical face of uncertainty at me as she answered in the same way. “Well, there’s always the Valium in Carlisle’s bag if I get desperate, but I hope it won’t come to that!” She brushed on a last line of blush. “I think once she sees Edward she’ll be all right, and Jasper will be here then and he can take care of her.”

I raised my eyebrows, but said nothing more as I finished fastening the last pins into Bella’s hair. It did look lovely, although Bella simply stared at me with a rabbit in the headlights look as Alice pronounced her approval.

“Now please go and fetch Bella’s dress,” Alice said to me. “It’s in the far end of my closet...and once you’ve done that will you find Jasper? He was going to pick up Bella’s mother from the hotel and bring them here. It’s nearly time.” I could tell she wanted to squeal and jump up and down with excitement, but was trying to restrain herself in an effort to keep Bella calm.

I did as Alice asked, bringing in the dress and hearing Bella’s hopeless whimper as Alice began draping her in the heavy silk.

“Valium?” I mouthed.

Alice pursed her lips and shook her head. “Jasper,” she mouthed back, and I nodded and drifted downstairs in search of him.

I found him leading Bella’s mother and stepfather, Renee and Phil, in from the garage and over to Edward who greeted them with old fashioned manners and spoke to them briefly before moving on through the crowd to other guests. Emmett, now immaculately clean and dressed in his tux, was ushering people towards their seats but he took a break to come over and embrace me, careful not to touch my hair or crease my dress.

“You’re the most beautiful girl here baby,” he murmured, running his hands along my back, mostly bare apart from the shoestring straps holding my dress on. I touched his cheek gently but then Alice was there, pulling Emmett’s arms away and pushing me towards the piano.

“Bella is as ready as she’s ever going to be,” Alice said brightly. “So I think some music now, Rosalie, and Emmett if you want to keep getting everyone seated and Edward up to the front with the minister…”

I followed her instructions, feeling a flash of pleasure as the music swelled and Edward turned and gave me an approving smile. He was so much better than I was that I rarely played in front of him, and I was surprisingly moved that he had both noticed and acknowledged me today, of all days.

I continued playing as the guests all took their seats, and then all rose again as Bella descended the stairs on her father’s arm. She looked beautiful, but I found my eyes straying to Edward where even my cynical and unromantic heart couldn’t help but be touched by the look of pure joy and devotion I saw shining from his face. I slowed the tempo of the music almost imperceptibly, matching it to Bella’s slow steps, and promised myself that from now on I would not look back or dwell on what should have been. Bella and Edward would be married and she would become one of us, and whatever my private thoughts might be about her choice I would respect it.

I watched the ceremony from the piano bench, hearing Bella’s soft and quavering responses and Edward’s bold and assured tones. I watched Charlie Swan struggle to hold back his emotion and saw Renee’s tears fall freely, and saw the private looks the Carlisle and Esme shared as they sat on the groom’s side. I smelled the mingled scents of human blood and vampires and flowers, overlaid with the strong and unpleasant smell of dog that came from Seth Clearwater, the only Quileute werewolf in attendance. I wondered about Bella’s friend Jacob, since I had seen his name on the guest list but he was clearly not among the crowd.

I played them out at the end of the ceremony, triumphant music to herald the newly married couple as they moved through the crowd being kissed and congratulated by all the guests, human and vampire. I continued until nearly everyone had moved out to the backyard, Alice’s flower garlanded dance floor bathed in the golden light of the sun that had just slipped down over the horizon.

When my hands finally stilled over the keys, there were immediately clasped by Emmett’s strong hands as he pulled me to my feet and drew me close, one hand on my hip and one stroking the bare skin of my back. “You did a good job, Rosa girl.”

I rested my head against his chest, loving the feel of his strong and steady presence. “Thank you. It went well, didn’t it?”

“Well, Bella didn’t fall down the stairs, so I’m already out some cash on that one,” Emmett grumbled.

I laughed. “What other disasters have you and Jasper bet on?”

“Oh…falling down the stairs was the first one, and she’s got to handle a cake knife and that could get messy, and dancing isn’t exactly Bella’s forte either and that dress is kind of long and she might trip over it, or sprain an ankle wearing whatever shoes Alice put her in, and there’s throwing a bouquet and Edward getting her garter off without anything happening…” Emmett rattled off his list and chuckled mischievously. “Come on angel, let’s go out and watch the carnage.”

Hand in hand Emmett and I sauntered out to join the crowd where, despite all the bets he and Jasper had made, all the traditional moments such as cake cutting and first dance and bouquet throwing all went off without a hitch.  

There was a moment of tension when Bella’s friend Jacob appeared in the shadows and he and Edward nearly came to blows, but I was not close enough to hear what happened. It was only the strengthening scent of werewolves, more than just Seth Clearwater’s distinctive smell alone, which made me aware of anything going on at all. Emmett and Jasper were closer, and when Edward and Bella reappeared on the dance floor with Edward’s face tense and angry and Bella once again bordering on tearful, Emmett flicked me a quick glance and then went and cut in on them with a booming laugh, doing what he always did to deflect tension with a joke. I watched for a moment as Emmett simply picked her up and danced with her feet dangling several inches above the floor as he laughed and Bella blushed, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched his boyish face as he teased her.

“Thank goodness for Emmett,” Edward said quietly by my side. He looked at me with a crooked smile. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you how lovely you look tonight Rosalie. Thank you for what you’ve done for the wedding and for playing the piano so beautifully.”

“It was nothing,” I waved my hand away. “I’m glad you came over. I wanted to say congratulations, that I am happy that you’re finally happy and I wish you and Bella all the best.” I gave him a sincere, if somewhat rueful smile. No point in sugar coating anything where Edward was concerned- he knew all too well what my thoughts had been about his wedding and his bride.

He grinned at me companionably. “Oh Rosalie…thank you for making an effort!” he said affectionately, and all I could do was laugh.

“Go and get your bride back,” I said with a giggle. “I want my husband.”

“In a minute,” Edward said teasingly. “How many times have I danced with your at _your_ wedding? It’s my turn now- you owe me a dance first.”

With a toss of my head and a sideways smile I took his hand and the two of us moved expertly out on to the floor. We’d always had such a rocky relationship, but for this moment at least we simply enjoyed being together, while happiness lit Edward up from the inside and I let go enough to be truly glad for him.


	3. When Alice Didn't See

“Have you found a way round yet?” I asked Jasper smugly, leaning over the back of the sofa and looking at the rapidly scrolling lines of code on the laptop on his lap.

Jasper frowned at the screen intently. “You know I haven’t…this one is killer.” He typed rapidly for a moment and then swore softly and shook his head at me as I smirked at him. “Give me more time.”

I laughed mockingly and dropped onto the sofa beside him. Jasper was trying to disable my most recently programmed computer virus and not having much luck.

“Don’t gloat too soon Rosalie,” Alice said cheerfully. “He’s going to get it…now,” she finished.

“Ha!” Jasper said triumphantly, grinning at me. “Neutralised your threat, _roseofjericho_ ,” he added, using my hacker name. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

He shut the laptop and pushed it towards me, the bright red Hazard tape that was stuck all over it contrasting sharply with the white sofa. Ever since Emmett had carelessly used my laptop once and nearly released a computer virus that would have disabled NASA, Carlisle insisted we had a dedicated computer for creating the viruses and challenging each other to disable them, and that we not leave it connected to the network.

“Better than that?” I exclaimed, offended. “It took you eleven hours, and that’s a clear three and a half hours longer than it’s ever taken me to break any of yours. Imagine how far it would have spread in that time! You cracked it much faster than a human would too, especially since you know my style so well by now…”

Jasper laughed. “Don’t get all hot and bothered Rosalie! It’s a killer virus, I’m sure it…” Mid-sentence his words cut out and in one fluid movement he was over by Alice’s side, staring intently down into her face. “Alice, what is it?”

Alice was staring blankly ahead of her, lost in a vision, but something about her emotions had triggered Jasper’s protectiveness and I felt fingers of unease running up and down my spine. Even Emmett looked up from playing Halo at the sudden chill feeling of fear in the room.

Several long minutes passed before Alice’s eyelashes fluttered and she looked up at Jasper in confusion. “It doesn’t make any sense…” she murmured.

“What did you see?” I asked sharply, unable to bear the suspense.

“I don’t know…” Alice said distractedly, flipping her cell phone out of her pocket and punching in a number. All of listened to it ring at the other end, waiting to hear who would answer.

Just as I thought no one was going to answer I heard a familiar voice, but one that did nothing to settle my growing conviction that something was very wrong. The soft, high voice of Bella Swan. “Hi Alice.”

“Bella?” Alice’s tone was a mix of relief and surprise, and I guessed that she had intended to call Edward. “Bella, are you okay?”

“Yeah…um, is Carlisle there?” Bella’s voice sounded more uncertain than ever.

“He is. What’s the problem?”

“I’m not…one hundred percent…sure…”

I rose to my feet and moved with vampire speed to the study, where Carlisle was reading his most recent medical journal. “Problem,” I said briefly, and without a word he followed me back to the living room, where Alice spoke his name and handed him the phone.

“Bella, it’s Carlisle. What’s going on?” Carlisle sounded calm and relaxed.

“I’m a little worried about Edward….Can vampires go in to shock?”

“Has he been harmed?” Carlisle demanded, and at his urgent tone Emmett dropped the game controller and silently came to stand beside me, his fingers curling in my hair as we waited for Bella’s answer.

“No, no,” Bella said hastily. “Just…taken by surprise.”

“I don’t understand, Bella,” Carlisle said tensely.

“I think…well, I think that…maybe…I might be…pregnant.”

Pregnant. The word, coming faintly down through the phone from Bella, had the impact of thunder as it echoed through the room. _Pregnant._

_No. No. No. NO!_

My eyes were fixed on Carlisle. I wasn’t even aware that I was moving until Emmett’s arms wrapped around me and he pulled me against him, but for once the familiar and beloved feel of him did nothing to comfort me. Unlike the rest of us, staring at Carlisle, Emmett’s golden eyes were focussed on nothing but me.

“When was the first day of your last menstrual cycle?” Carlisle asked.

“Sixteen days before the wedding.”

I did the math, and felt my world beginning to shatter as Bella’s next words came to me, in response to Carlisle asking how she felt. “Weird. This is going to sound crazy- look, I know it’s way too early for any of this. Maybe I am crazy. But I’m having bizarre dreams and eating all the time and crying and throwing up and…and…I swear something _moved_ inside me just now.”

I couldn’t listen to any more. Not when the words cut like knives, deep into the never healed wounds of my most long held sorrows and brought all that agony back to the surface. _No. This can’t be happening. It can’t be. Bella Swan...she can’t have THIS too!_ Shoving free of Emmett’s embrace I turned and ran before the rising tide of rage exploded outward in destruction.

“Rosa baby, stop! Please!” I heard the steady drumming of Emmett’s feet as he ran behind me and I heard the note of loving desperation in his voice but I didn’t respond. I could feel nothing but hurt so deep and rage so blinding that there was no room in my heart for anything else, not even my Emmett.

It was the smell of wolf as I hit the Quileute border all too soon that made me stop, skidding to a halt and turning, wild-eyed, to face Emmett. He stood back from me, hands raised, and in his eyes I saw nothing but love and grief as he looked at me.

“Rosalie, angel girl…”

“NO!” I snarled savagely. “NO Emmett, you can’t say _anything_ to make this better, you can’t…” Words failed me and for a moment I just stood there and screamed.

“Oh, sweet Christ…my girl, my Rosa…” Risking my wrath Emmett crossed the distance between us with a bound and took me in his arms. He held me close while I screamed and struggled and raged against him, until at last I slumped in his arms for a moment with the lament of a soul destroyed as he kissed my face and crooned to me, “Oh, beautiful angel girl please don’t do this…I can’t…I love you, I love you…I’m here with you…”

“It’s not _fair_ Emmett,” I choked out, knowing I sounded like a child and hating myself, but not having words to express how deep this torment went. “She has everything I wanted and she doesn’t even _care_ , she doesn’t give a fuck about _any_ of it and is going to throw it all away…but now she is going to have _that_ too? Bella Swan and goddamn fucking _Edward_ get to have a _baby?”_

“We don’t know that yet,” Emmett offered feebly.

“Bella’s an idiot, but she’s not _stupid_!” I shouted. “If what she says is true, then there’s no other explanation!” I was shaking with fury as I pushed Emmett away, half afraid I would turn on him as my hands clenched into fists.

“But it’s not possible,” Emmett said incredulously. “It can’t be…”

“How do we know if it’s possible or not?” I snarled. “Has there ever been a vampire male in history as uptight and as repressed as Edward who could have sex with a human and not kill them outright? Has there ever been anyone as moronic enough as Edward to _want_ to?”

“But Carlisle said…” Emmett ran his hands through his hair, looking dazed. “When I asked him, he said there was no way…”

I narrowed my eyes. “You _asked_ Carlisle about having a _child?”_

Emmett’s attention focussed back on my face, and the sorrow there nearly brought me to my knees.

“Of course I asked him!” he exclaimed. “Jesus Rosalie, when having a baby is all you’ve ever wanted…you think I didn’t ask Carlisle or do damn near anything else I could think of to find out if there was even a _chance_?”

“I didn’t know that,” I said numbly.

Emmett shook his head wearily. “Well, there didn’t seem any point in talking about it since I never found anything that made it seem like we had any options at all. Stories and fantasies and legends…nothing real.” He looked at me and shrugged helplessly. “I tried baby. You know I would do _anything…”_

“I know,” I moved into his arms and rested my head against his chest, feeling the way our bodies automatically adjusted to fit together in that familiar way. “I know you would Emmett.” _How can I have been so lucky as to find you?_ I clung to that thought as tendrils of bitter jealousy climbed and curled about my heart, budding their dark flowers of pain.

Bella was pregnant. She, who had every choice and opportunity of humanity at her fingertips and was going to throw it all away, had somehow managed to defy science and sense to get pregnant with a vampire’s seed. And now she was going to have a _baby_ , Edward’s baby, and I would have no choice but to watch as she got everything I had ever dreamed of for myself. I would see her grow and change and birth a baby, she would become a mother and she and Edward and the child would be their own little family…all those things that I had wanted so fiercely and had found so impossible to let go of without bitterness and a ruthless, unrelenting grief. I could not stop the cry of wretchedness that fought its way out of me.

Emmett was like the rock he had always been, standing steady in the face of my tempestuous storms, and once again he held me together as the intensity of emotion I felt threatened to tear me apart. The big, solid body I worshipped, the amber eyes that looked at me with nothing but an enduring love and belief in what I was, the steadfast heart that had belonged to me since the moment I found him bleeding in the forest…he laid it all at my feet again to tell me that he loved me, and he would always be there for me.

He waited until I was still and quiet and composed before he spoke. “We should go back. Maybe Carlisle knows more…or maybe Alice has seen what’s going to happen.”

I nodded wordlessly and he laced his fingers through mine as he tugged me back in the direction of home. “Whatever happens,” Emmett said softly, “We will be okay. You and I, Rosa-girl…we’ll be together and we’ll be okay.” I didn’t know who he was trying to convince, me or himself, and I said nothing as his fingers tightened convulsively and our twin scars pressed together as he repeated his words. _“We’ll be okay.”_

Back at the house Carlisle, Esme, Alice and Jasper were all seated in the living room. Not talking, not moving, just sitting and waiting. Esme half rose as she saw me, her eyes creased with concern, but I met her look with a remote, emotionless expression and she silently resumed her seat.

“What’s going on then?” Emmett asked. “You think Bella really is pregnant?”

“It seems likely,” Carlisle’s said tonelessly. “I would not have thought it possible, but…they’re on their way home. We’ll know more when they get here.”

Emmett glanced over at Alice. “What’s going on? You losing your touch pipsqueak?” he said lightly, trying to induce some levity with his teasing. “What does your crystal ball tell us is happening?”

“I can’t see,” Alice said flatly. “That’s what I saw- or didn’t see- earlier and why I called Edward. Bella just blurred right out of the future and I thought…well, never mind. She’s clearly still alive, but no matter what I do _I can’t see her…”_

My eyes met Emmett’s in mutual shock. We were so used to Alice’s visions guiding our lives that her blindness came close to inducing terror.

“What about Edward?” I asked slowly. “What about the…the baby?”

“I can’t see him properly either!” Alice said in frustration. “It’s just flickers, never more than a moment or two ahead and it all changes so rapidly! I just don’t know!” Jasper put a soothing hand over hers, and she smiled at him a little forlornly before she swung back to face me, her eyes hard. “As for the…thing…I have no idea.”

 _Baby._ I thought silently, the knife twisting in my heart. _It’s a baby._

Emmett shook his head, bemused. “So what now?” he asked the room in general.

Carlisle’s face was tight. “We wait until they get home, and I can examine Bella and see what we’re dealing with. I’m having an ultrasound scanner and various other pieces of medical equipment and drugs overnighted so we’ll be prepared for…whatever we have to do.”

“But it’s just a baby,” Emmett said uncertainly. “I mean, if Bella’s pregnant, she’s gonna just get big and have a baby…right?”

“It’s _not_ a baby,” Alice said harshly.

“We don’t know,” Carlisle said impassively. “We don’t know yet _what_ we’re dealing with. It’s a half human, half vampire hybrid being gestated by a human and that’s unheard of. There is no precedent here as far as we know, and we have no idea at all what we’re going to be dealing with…or what we will have to do in response to it.”


	4. The Phone Call

There was nothing to do but wait, and yet I couldn’t bear to sit in the silent living area with the others. Instead I did what I always did in times of emotional upheaval and retreated to the garage, searching for solace in the familiar smells of grease and metal and the sight of shiny chrome and sleek paintwork. The sight of Bella’s ‘after’ car- the gorgeous Ferrari Edward had bought for her to drive after she became one of us and I had secretly been drooling over- draped in a sheet and hidden in the back corner made my stomach twist.

Emmett sat silently beside me, his legs stretched out in front of him, his fingers a blur as he twirled a wrench between his hands like a baton. I wondered briefly what he was thinking but couldn’t bring myself to ask him.

The chime of my cell phone was an intrusive sound in the tense silence. I slipped it out of my pocket and when I saw the name _Edward_ flashing on the display I glanced at Emmett, seeing my own confusion reflected back in his eyes. Why on earth was Edward calling _me_? I frowned, and taking a deep breath in order to sound calm, I answered. “Hello?”

It wasn’t Edward.

“Rosalie?” It was the whispered, terrified voice of Bella that came tremblingly out of the phone. “It’s Bella. Please. You have to help me.”

 _Help you? Just how delusional are you?_ My hand gripped Emmett’s with crushing force. “Excuse me?”

“ _Please_ Rosalie!” Bella said frantically. “You’re the only one…I don’t have much time! You _have_ to help, please…”

“You want _my_ help,” I said coldly. “Why would I help you, Bella? What makes you think…”

“ _He wants to hurt my baby.”_

 _“Oh.”_ I froze, hearing Bella’s hopeless, whimpering sobs from a million miles away.

“Please Rosalie,” she implored, her voice breaking. “You’re the only person who can understand how much I want my baby. Edward wants to _hurt_ him, and I’m not strong enough to stop him if he tries to force me…I _need_ you Rosalie, my _baby_ needs you…”

Oh, she knew how to hit me where it hurt when it mattered! I could feel myself trembling, as my mind took in what she was asking me and what the repercussions would be… _oh Bella, do you even know what you’re asking?_ But there was only one answer I could give, and Bella had known it when she picked up the phone and called me. Closing my eyes I tried desperately to steady my voice. “Okay Bella…tell me exactly what you want me to do.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you,” she babbled. “I don’t have much time, I don’t want Edward to know I called you.... We’re coming home…Edward says that Carlisle will be ready to…to… _take it out of me…_ ” there was a long pause as Bella fought for control so she could go on. “And I don’t want that Rosalie, I want my baby…I just need to know you’ll be there to help me protect him! Please, promise me…”

“I promise. I’ll be there as soon as you land...I’ll do whatever you need me to.”

“Oh god, thank you Rosalie, thank you, I can’t tell you…oh no, he’s coming…”

The phone went dead, and with deliberate care I placed it on the floor beside me, feeling almost outside time as I looked at Emmett. I could almost see his mind working as he ran through what Bella had said and the implications. “You’re going to help her then?”

“I said I would.” I don’t think I had ever felt as icy cold and emotionless as I did right then.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Emmett said hesitantly. “If Edward is against it…this is just going to be one great big clusterfuck of a disaster baby doll.”

“I know.” We both sat in silence for several long moments.

“Edward must think it’s dangerous,” Emmett ventured. “If he wants Bella to get rid of it, he must think it’s going to hurt her.”

“Probably.” I tapped my fingers restlessly on my thigh as I attempted to gather my thoughts before I spoke, slowly and haltingly. “But Emmett…Bella sounded _afraid_ of him. She wants me to be there because she thinks he’s going to force her and she’s not strong enough to stop him.” My voice shook. “I half hate her Emmett, but I can’t stand back and watch that happen. _I know what it’s like when someone is stronger than you and they do things to you and take things from you against your will._ She asked me to help because she knows that. She knows what I went through, and she knows I could never let it- or anything like it- happen again, to anyone, if it’s in my power to stop it.”

“And the baby?” Emmett said gently.

“I can’t think about the baby right now,” I said ruthlessly. “I can’t Emmett. Right now this is about Bella having a choice that I didn’t have…and I’m going to make sure no one takes that choice away from her.”

There was a sudden crash as the door into the house flew open and Alice stood there glaring at me, her elfin face furious. “What are you doing, Rosalie? What do you know?” she demanded.

 “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied coolly.

“You do! Something just happened, and now you’re there in my visions but I can’t see anything properly! You have to tell me…why did it change?” Alice clenched her fists. “What are you and Edward fighting about?”

“I have no idea,” I said blandly. “You’re the psychic, you tell me.”

“Stop lying to me!” Alice was nearly screaming. “God help me Rosalie, you tell me what you know _now_!”

Jasper wrapped his arms around her from behind, and she subsided back into his embrace. His face was inscrutable as he gazed at me over the top of her head, and beside me Emmett shifted his weight restlessly.

“Rosalie,” Carlisle moved past Alice and looked down at where I still sat cross legged on the floor, his face grave. “Please, if you know something you must tell us. We need all the facts and information we can gather right now.”

“I don’t know anything more than you do. Alice can’t see what’s going to happen, so I don’t know why you would all assume I have some sudden insight,” I said coldly. I rose to my feet in one fluid motion and crossed my arms over my chest as I glared at them. “So, considering we can’t expect them back from Isle Esme until…”

“Early tomorrow morning,” Carlisle said gruffly.

“Fine then. We’ll be back when Edward and Bella get back tomorrow, but in the meantime I’m going out…Emmett?” I swung myself casually into the BMW and revved the engine obnoxiously as Emmett vaulted over the door to land in the passenger seat. His face was blank- I hoped no one was looking at him, he only wore that expression when he was trying to hide something. As soon as the garage door was up I roared down the driveway, Emmett slumping down beside me.

“Where are we going?” he asked as I left the driveway and accelerated again.

“I haven’t decided yet.” I suddenly threw the car into a skid, tyres screeching on the road before I came to a dead stop at the side of the road, perfectly parallel to the side lines. I put my head down on the steering wheel. “This is going to be really hard Emmett.” I looked over at him, and for once I didn’t even concern myself with how weak I might look as I said honestly, “It’s going to divide the family, more than anything else ever has, I think. It might get very, very ugly.”

“Hey, come here baby,” he said gently, and without hesitation I slid across the seat and onto his lap, burying my face in the curve of his neck and shoulder and breathing hard. I felt his hands on my back and his lips in my hair and for a minute I wished I could just get naked and stop _thinking_ …reluctantly I pulled away from him.

“Why didn’t you tell them that Bella called?” Emmett asked.

“She didn’t want Edward to know that she called,” I said tiredly. “If I had told them she called they would have been right on the phone to Edward… I don’t know what he’s said to her, or what she’s said to him, and we may find that this is nothing but a tempest in a teacup in the end. But I promised Bella I’d protect her and the baby, and at the moment she seems to think that means protecting her from Edward. So until I know different that’s what I’m going to do.” I gently caressed Emmett’s unhappy face, and he wrinkled his nose up at me and tried to smile.

“I just can’t believe that Edward would do anything Bella didn’t want,” he murmured. “You know what he’s like with her…”

“I do,” I said soberly. “And that’s what makes me believe Bella might have a point here. Edward has done plenty of things in the past that she didn’t want him to do – or _not_ done things that she _did_ want him to do – because he believed it was in her best interests. He believes his motives are pure, and maybe they are, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s imposed his will on her in the past and she’s scared he’s going to do it now.” I sighed heavily.

Emmett dropped a tender kiss on my forehead and for a moment cradled me close. “I love you,” he said hoarsely. “And I’ve got your back on this…whatever happens. Okay?”

I smiled and kissed him back, fierce and hard. “I love you. Now…how do you feel about hanging out at the airport for a few hours?”

Emmett grinned. “Well, I’d rather get in the backseat with you and…”

“We’re in a _convertible_ …”

“Well in that case…why not?” Emmett folded his hands behind his head and leaned back as I slid across to the driver’s seat. “You want me to call home and tell them we’ll pick Edward and Bella up?”

“Not yet.” I cut in front of a truck, ignoring the blast of the horn and rolling my eyes as Emmett flipped the driver off behind his back. “When we left I told Alice we’d be back in the morning. I didn’t decide to go to the airport until we’d left…I don’t know if she’ll pick up that decision or if she’ll be busy trying to see Edward and Bella, but I think it’s best if we keep our plans on the down low as long as we can.”

Emmett’s irrepressible dimples came out as he laughed at me. “You make it sound like some covert operation!” He flipped a pair of sunglasses on and stretched out his long legs. “Let’s get to the airport then, Mata Hari, and see whatever the hell is going on with Edward and Bella when they get home.”

The airport was the same as they always were, crowds of people bustling to and fro, intent on their own business. It was an easy place to be anonymous. Emmett and I found a quiet row of lounge chairs facing the tarmac and sat together, his legs stretched out and his arms folded, still wearing the sunglasses and with an old baseball cap jammed low over his forehead. I laid my head against his shoulder and stared out at the blinking lights and waited.

“Well, this is a nice surprise.” Alice appeared in front of me, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Behind her Carlisle cocked an eyebrow quizzically at us, and Jasper looked at my innocent face sceptically.

“We thought we might welcome Edward and Bella home,” Emmett said easily, standing up and pulling me to my feet. “What gate?”

The five of us stood together by the gate. Only Emmett, whistling carelessly, seemed unaffected by the air of tension. Jasper looked pained and Carlisle looked serious, while Alice kept shooting suspicious glances my way.

“You don’t see anything more clearly?” I couldn’t resist asking her.

Alice bit her lip. “No. I still can’t see Bella at all really. Please Rosalie,” her voice turned wheedling. “Please tell me what you know.”

It hardly mattered who knew what now. “Bella called me from Isle Esme,” I said slowly. “She asked…”

But before I could say any more the glass doors opened and the mingled scents of Edward and Bella flowed out, distinctive even in the chaos of a thousand different smells swirling through the airport, and Alice and I both turned towards it.

Edward came through first and then held the door for Bella. His face was as rigid and cold as marble even as he looked at his beloved Bella, and I had to hold back a shudder as I saw that. I could spare Edward little more than a glance though as my eyes slid past him to Bella, shuffling behind him with her shoulders hunched and her hands clasped in front of her.

Bella…Bella looked ghastly. Her skin was almost grey and the shadows under her eyes looked like purple bruises. Her lips were cracked and colourless, and as she glanced at Edward from under lowered eyelashes when she passed him she bit her lower lip hard enough that a ruby red bead of blood welled up, shockingly bright against the whiteness of her teeth.

It’s not often that everything in your world changes in an instant. Even less often do you know at that moment that your whole reality is transforming, never to be the same again. But that’s what happened then.

For a tiny space of time that felt like eternity no one moved. And then Bella pushed past Edward and ran, stumbling and shaky, right towards me. At the last moment I caught her, and the weight that settled on my heart was so much greater than the soft, fragile weight of her in my arms because, as she pressed against me with a choked cry of relief, I felt it. Even with layers of clothes between us I felt it, the hard swelling in her belly and the softest, faintest little nudge of the tiny being that lay within.

_Oh baby…you’re really there._

Bella’s brown eyes, swimming with tears, met my golden ones and I didn’t have to be a psychic to know that she was begging me. For the first time ever she and I really _looked_ at each other, and there was a flash of understanding.

_It’s okay Bella, I promised…I’m here and I’ll fight for you both._


	5. Alternate Reality

I had never seen Edward look less human than he did right then, as he stared at me with his face contorted in violent fury. Instinctively I crouched slightly, shielding Bella with all my senses on hyper alert as I braced myself to defend…or attack.

_Don’t test me Edward- you know what I’m capable of. She doesn’t like your plan and this time it’s not your choice._

His lips drawn back in a silent snarl Edward took a step towards me, and as one Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper moved in between us.

“Not here!” Emmett growled. “Not now!” His brows lowered he glared at Edward, and then back towards me. “We go home, and we sort it out there.”

I did not relax my stance until Edward forced himself to stand upright and smooth out his face. Only then did I stand straight, glancing from Bella to Emmett and then towards Edward, Carlisle, Alice and Jasper who were ranged across from us. “Fine then,” I said stiffly. “Bella, did you want to ride with Emmett and I?”

“Your bags…” Carlisle began, but Edward cut in before he could finish.

“To hell with the bags.” He stared at Bella, his eyes burning. “Bella?”

“I’ll ride with Rose and Emmett,” she whispered, not meeting his gaze. “I’ll see you…”

Without a word Edward turned and strode away with Alice talking rapidly as she danced at his side. Jasper threw me a look and stalked after them, leaving only Carlisle who glanced in concern at Bella.

“Bella my dear, do you feel all right?” he asked gently.

She nodded uncertainly. “Sort of. I’m just tired, that’s all.”

Carlisle nodded. “I’m sure you are. Once we’re home you’ll be able to rest, and we’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry.” Patting her gently on the hand, Carlisle turned and sped after the others.

“He’ll do it, won’t he?” Bella said hopelessly. “If Edward tells him to he’ll make me end the pregnancy…”

“No he won’t,” I said sharply. “None of them are going to do anything you don’t want them to. I won’t let them.” I took a deep breath. “Come on, let’s go.”

   Back at the BMW I tossed the keys to Emmett and sat in the passenger seat, twisted around to face Bella as she curled into a corner of the backseat. She shivered and I frowned for a minute and then went and rummaged in the trunk, coming up with a sweatshirt of Emmett’s that we kept there and tossing it to Bella. Dressing to match the seasons was a basic part of blending in, but in a vampire body that felt neither heat nor cold it was an easy thing to overlook and we usually kept spare pieces on hand. It was like a tent on her tiny frame, but at least it would keep her warm.

“Seatbelt,” I reminded her automatically, and was surprised when she gave a sudden giggle. “What?”

“It’s just…I’m married to a vampire, pregnant with his baby and about to go home to a house full of blood drinkers and you think a seatbelt is going to save me?” For a moment Bella’s eyes twinkled with humour.

“Well, you know what they say,” I said crisply. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Something you and Edward should have perhaps thought about before your honeymoon…neither of you have ever heard of condoms?”

This time it was Emmett who laughed, a booming sound of mirth that quite startled the parking attendant he was paying at the time. A second later he accelerated away, still laughing as he looked at me. “I’m sorry baby, but…what the fuck kind of alternate reality have I fallen into, where you are letting me drive the Beamer while you and Bella talk about birth control in the back seat?”

Even I had to concede that it was a ludicrous scenario, and I half laughed in sudden despair. “Oh god Emmett…what are we doing? What’s going to happen now?”

“Maybe we don’t have to go home,” Bella said wistfully. “We could just…hide out somewhere til the baby’s born and Edward can see it’s all going to be okay. You could take care of me Rose, you’re a doctor right?”

I made a face. “Not exactly. I have the theory down, but I didn’t quite do all my clinical rotations you know? I’m not Carlisle, that’s for sure.” I sighed and looked at her seriously. “All jokes aside Bella, you know we have to go home right? You need Carlisle.”

Bella nodded reluctantly. “I know. And I want to try and make Edward understand that this is a _good_ thing. That this baby is a miracle.”

 _A miracle that you and Edward are given, and no one else gets to have…_ Jealousy twisted in my heart again, and I wondered bleakly if I was really going to be able to do this.

“It is a miracle,” I said slowly. “But you have to realise that we’re dealing with a complete unknown…no one knows what this is going to do to you Bella. No one knows what kind of offspring you’re going to produce in the end.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Bella said dreamily. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine. It’s going to be a boy, and he’s going to be perfect…just like Edward.” She wrapped her arms around herself, her hand curved protectively over her belly.

Emmett frowned and put his foot down as we shot along the highway back to Forks. We stopped for gas and, as Emmett filled the car impatiently, I took Bella into the little convenience store and filled a basket with food and drinks.

“There won’t be any food at home,” I told her quietly. “We weren’t expecting you back yet. We’ll get groceries later- fresh, healthy stuff, whatever you want…but this will keep you going until then.”

Bella nodded, although she grimaced a little. She didn’t look enthusiastic about anything, but her face was still an awful greyish colour and I could tell by the condition of her skin that she was dehydrated. “Have something to drink, even if you can’t eat,” I coaxed. “Milk, or juice…?”

Bella chose milk and unscrewed the cap as we walked back to the car, swallowing half the bottle as we walked back to the car. “Oh, that’s good…” she breathed. She drank the rest more slowly as Emmett pulled out of the gas station and raced onwards towards home, and for a moment her skin returned to something almost close to her normal colour.

It was too good to last, of course. Less than two minutes later she sat up looking frantic and muttered, “Oh god, stop!” before she gagged and threw up, all over the back seat.

“Oh my god, Rosalie, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m…” Bella clapped her hands over her mouth and gagged again. Emmett had the car off the road and I had Bella out of the car and leaning over beside a tree before she let go with a second round.

For a moment I wanted to throw up myself. When was the last time I’d had to deal with human vomit? Had it always been this disgusting? And IN MY CAR! I bit back a howl.

“I’m cleaning it up!” Emmett said to me. He vanished in the direction of the gas station convenience store, and returned only a few moments later with a packet of paper towels and a bottle of bleach. “Best I could manage,” he said with a shrug, and I shut my eyes in resignation as he began scrubbing at the expensive leather seats.

“I’m sorry!” Bella looked mortified. “I am so sorry!”

“Oh, stop it!” I handed her a bottle of water to rinse her mouth out with. “Don’t keep apologising!”

“I’m s….” Bella stuttered to a stop and turned away to rinse and spit.

“You should try and sip some of that,” I said more softly. “You’re dehydrated. Just little sips, slowly, and you’ll have a better chance of keeping it down.”

Bella slumped miserably onto the ground, hunching in to herself and clutching the water bottle like it was a life preserver. “It’s not just the car…I’m sorry I’m being so much trouble for you,” she said, so softly I could barely hear her.

I shook my head. “Listen to me Bella- you don’t need to apologise. I promised I would help you and I take promises seriously… I am here for you. I’m going to look out for you and your baby until, well, until you don’t need me to do it anymore.” Her brown eyes looked up at me with trepidation, and I did my best to smile reassuringly. “Really Bella. Hell, you _threw up in my car_ and you’re still alive- surely that tells you something about my level of commitment here!”

Bella laughed a little and I smiled at her. “As long as you want me to I’ll take care of you,” I added softly.

“Thank you.” Bella struggled to her feet, and I automatically put out my arm and felt her lean against me through a wave of dizziness as she swayed. “I want you to look after me,” she said shyly. “Edward doesn’t understand yet…but I think you do.”

“I’ve done what I can,” Emmett said cheerfully. “You’ll have to get that shit detailed though baby.” He tied the piles of paper towel into a plastic bag and tossed it in the trunk and then gallantly held the door for Bella.

Detailed? Vomit? I’d need a new car. I was never going to be able to look at my BMW the same way again.

As we pulled into the garage at home, I saw Bella’s teeth worrying at her lower lip as she scanned the row of cars. The others were already back.

“Hey,” I said gently. “Don’t worry; we’re going to sort it out.” Bella nodded, and a moment later I froze as I felt her warm, human hand briefly grip my shoulder as she leaned over from the backseat.

“Don’t let me change my mind,” she said almost inaudibly. “Help me be strong Rosalie, please.”

For a second I covered her hand with mine as I nodded.

Emmett jumped out of the car, then tugged me out and hugged me hard. “You’re sure about this?” he murmured into my ears, at a pitch inaudible to Bella.

“I promised,” I answered, my face buried in his neck. “Whatever it takes…” I bit him gently and then pushed him away with a deep breath. “Let’s go find the others.”

Emmett entered the living room first, his casual greeting belying the crackling tension in the atmosphere. As Bella and I followed him, Bella half hidden behind me, Edward’s stone face cracked into a look of loathing and he hissed at me, darkly menacing.

“Watch it,” Emmett said to him mildly, but there was no mistaking the threat of him as he tensed, his muscles flexing. “No need for that, Edward.”

“It’s not Rosalie’s fault,” Bella spoke up quietly. “I called her and asked her to meet me.”

Edward turned away without a word, staring out the window at the dreary, damp forest with his shoulders held rigid.

“Bella,” Carlisle said gently. “Would you like me to examine you? We have an ultrasound machine upstairs, and the facilities for blood testing…” When Bella hesitated and looked over at me, obviously frightened, Carlisle smiled at her easily. “Or we could just start with feeling your abdomen,” he suggested. “We can do that right here on the sofa.”

Bella clutched my hand and I heard Alice’s sharply indrawn breath. “Rose, stay with me,” Bella whispered, and I nodded and moved with her towards the sofa. I couldn’t look at Edward as Bella gingerly removed Emmett’s giant sweatshirt before she lay down on the sofa and pulled her t shirt up.

It was a shock to see the physical reality. Bella’s belly was swollen, the skin over it stretched taut and marked with angry looking red-purple streaks radiating out underneath her navel. Apart from Carlisle, tracing gentle hands over Bella’s belly, no one moved or even breathed.

“I’m sorry for the cold hands,” Carlisle said with a twitch of his lip. “I usually warm them up under hot water before I do this for my patients.”

Bella waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

“What I’m doing here is measuring what we call your fundal height,” Carlisle murmured. “That measurement is taken from down here on your pubic bone, to the top of your uterus.” His gentle fingers probed Bella’s stomach as he explained. “An average pregnancy lasts for forty weeks, and a woman will grow about a centimetre a week, so to about forty centimetres by the end. Right now you’re about…”

“What?” Bella prompted him. “What am I?”

Carlisle’s face was carefully noncommittal. “Nineteen. The top of your uterus is about here, at your belly button.” Over by the window, Edward made an inhuman noise of agony.

“So maybe about halfway,” Bella said, sounding pleased. She struggled to sit upright, and without thinking I took her elbows and helped her. She looked around the room. “I mean, I know it’s not exactly normal but if it’s halfway then that’s good, right? Nothing awful has happened to me yet- I feel kind of tired and I keep throwing up, but that’s pretty normal for being pregnant, right?” She looked trustingly up at Carlisle, who tried to smile.

“Yes, vomiting and fatigue are very normal aspects of pregnancy. But…”

“Stop!” Edward said harshly, turning from the window to face the room. “Can we all stop pretending that this is anything like a normal pregnancy? Carlisle, you can’t humour her like this! Bella…” His face was tormented as he came and knelt by the sofa at her feet. “You have to listen. This is madness! You can’t continue on in this way!”

“Edward,” Bella whispered, and her hands shook as she curled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees, shielding her belly. “I _want_ our baby. I love him and I believe that this can work out. I can do this.”

Edward moaned and pressed his face into his hands. “It doesn’t matter what you believe,” he said, his voice muffled. “Alice can’t see you Bella, she can’t see you…”

I grasped his meaning before Bella did. I had assumed Alice’s visions failing meant the future was just unknown, or too uncertain, and maybe Alice not being able to see the baby was something like her not being able to see the Quileute wolves, but it seemed that Edward had interpreted it very differently.

“Alice can’t see you Bella. That…thing…it’s going to kill you.”


	6. Whatever it Takes

The words sounded so harsh and brutal, completely out of place in the morning light flooding the living room. _That thing is going to kill you._

_Thing…it’s just a baby. A vampire baby…_

“You don’t know that for sure,” Bella said softly. “Alice hasn’t seen me dead, right?”

Alice’s shook her head with a noise of distress, pressing closer to Jasper who ran a hand down her back with a gentle murmur. “I can’t see you at all, not really...and that’s scary Bella!”

Bella’s hand curled protectively over her stomach. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But it doesn’t matter anyway…I won’t do anything that might hurt my baby.”

“I can’t see any baby either,” Alice said pointedly. “The future is all messed up…it’s giving me a headache.” She rubbed her temples with her fingertips.

Edward was like stone. “Bella. Please. Just let Carlisle try and see what…what it is. Don’t make up your mind until we have all the information.”

Bella bit her lip. “We can do an ultrasound,” she said finally. “But Edward, it doesn’t matter…”

Edward’s fists clenched and his hiss of pain cut her off. Tired of his drama I looked over to Carlisle and said practically, “You had the ultrasound scanner delivered then?”

“It’s upstairs,” Carlisle told me. “Bella, I think Edward is right that we need to do what we can to ascertain what’s going on. You don’t have to make any decisions right now…”

“There’s no decision to be made,” Bella said, softly and steadily. Her face was greenish grey and her eyes were enormous as she looked at Edward yearningly. “I want to do this.”

“No…” he breathed, his voice sounding half strangled. “I can’t let you sacrifice yourself for some monstrous creature.” Abruptly he rose to his feet and moved away again, standing with his back to the room and his shoulders shaking.

No one else said a word as Bella climbed slowly to her feet and moved towards the stairs. “Rosalie?” she whispered and I was by her side in an instant as she took the first step with a grimace.

“Do you need help?”

She glanced over her shoulder at the silent room that seemed full of statues as everyone watched us. “It hurts a bit,” she admitted quietly. “I guess everything is stretching so quickly that my body is having a hard time adjusting.” She took another step and winced.

“I can carry you up if you want,” I offered hesitantly. I couldn’t believe how quickly our relationship was changing as she bit her lip and nodded her head…was this really Bella Swan that I had scooped up in my arms and was carrying upstairs? Despite the rounded belly on her she felt as fragile as a kitten as I ascended the stairs with her.

Carlisle had the ultrasound scanner set up and ready to go in one of the guest rooms, so I took Bella in and laid her gently down on the bed. Edward came in and stood silently by Bella. He kept his eyes carefully averted from her stomach and after shooting one glance of loathing my way, kept his eyes away from me too. Emmett came and hovered a little uncertainly in the doorway.

“The gel is cold, I’m sorry,” Carlisle said with a smile, spreading it across Bella’s stomach. “Alright, let’s see what we can see here.” He typed a few commands into the keyboard and then began scanning Bella’s stomach, watching the blurry grey shapes on the screen.

We hadn’t known what we might have expected to see. A human looking foetus with a heartbeat? A miniature vampire baby with no heartbeat or circulatory system? Some other unimaginable monstrosity? But what we hadn’t expected to see was the nothing that confronted us. There was Bella’s womb, clearly well enlarged, but the scan showed us only darkness, with no hint as to what lay within. Whatever the amniotic sac was made from, it was not penetrable by ultrasound waves.

“Well, that hasn’t given us any real answers,” Carlisle said briefly, flipping the switch and sending the screen into darkness. He took a hand towel and began wiping the gel off Bella’s skin. “Perhaps an x-ray…oh.” For a moment his professionalism faltered and he looked up at Edward with shocked eyes. “I just felt it move.”

Edward and I both stared down at Bella, and a moment later she sucked in her breath as we all saw the ripple across the stretched skin and then a protruding bump as something poked hard against her from the inside.

“Extraordinary,” murmured Carlisle. “Did that hurt?”

“He’s very strong,” Bella said proudly, avoiding the question.

“Too strong,” Edward whispered. He looked appalled. “Too strong, too soon…how will it end?”

I could see the faintest shadow of a bruise blooming on Bella’s skin, right where the baby had kicked out, and I wondered with a sudden sense of foreboding if Edward was right. This baby was half vampire- if it had even half vampire strength, how could Bella’s fragile human body possibly have the resources to hold it safe until birth?

The x-ray revealed nothing. Just the same darkness in Bella’s womb, obscuring whatever was inside. Bella seemed unperturbed, but Edward’s hands fisted in agitation.

“Carlisle, we can’t let this go on!” he exclaimed desperately. “It’s too dangerous- look at what it’s done to her already! You have to get it out now!”

Bella looked at me beseechingly, and I straightened my spine and stepped into Edward’s line of sight. “You don’t get to make that choice Edward.”

“Shut up!” he said to me savagely, and it was a sign of just how distraught he was that he would be so rude. However much Edward disliked me at times, his manners were nearly always impeccable. “This has _nothing_ to do with you Rosalie!”

“It has everything to do with me,” I countered. “Bella asked me to look out for her and make sure that her choice is respected. And she wants the baby…”

“It’s not a baby!” Edward snarled. “It’s something unnatural and it’s _hurting_ her…”

“ _You’re_ hurting her!” I snapped. “Stop thinking of yourself and…”

With a roar of rage Edward launched himself at me, but before he could touch me Emmett threw himself in between us, his body colliding with Edward’s with a sound like thunder in the small room. Bella screamed, and when the blur of motion settled Emmett had Edward face down on the carpet, his knees pinning Edward’s legs flat and his arms twisted painfully up behind his back.

 “Oh stop, please!” Bella sobbed, “Emmett, don’t hurt him!” Then she gagged and retched as her body struggled to vomit something out of her empty stomach. In a blur of speed Carlisle disappeared and reappeared with towels to help her.

“Emmett.” Edward said distantly. “Let me go.”

“You make a move like that against my girl again and I’ll tear you apart,” Emmett said hoarsely. “You know I will…don’t make me Edward.” He sat back on his heels and watched Edward rise to a crouch.

“That thing is going to kill Bella” Edward said dispassionately, staring directly at Emmett with an icy look. “And you will back Rosalie and prevent me from doing what I have to in order to save her? That’s what you’re telling me…brother?”

“Don’t Edward,” Emmett said softly, and I knew Edward could not have missed the catch in his voice. “It’s not like that.”

“Boys, if you can’t behave yourselves you can take that outside,” Carlisle said sharply, bundling up the soiled towels and bed linen as Bella moved herself dejectedly into a chair.

Edward turned his back on Emmett and strode wordlessly out of the room, and my heart tugged at the bleak look on Emmett’s face as he gazed after him.

“Bella, if you don’t mind I’d like to take some blood,” Carlisle said. “I’d like to check your levels on a few things, and while I do that I think you should have something to eat and drink, and then perhaps you should rest.”

Bella, her eyelashes damp and her eyes swimming with unshed tears, didn’t protest as Carlisle adeptly withdrew several vials of blood. Emmett took one look at the needle going into Bella’s skin and abruptly left the room, but my inner monster barely even flickered as the smell of blood permeated the air.

“Do you want to go lie down in Edward’s room?” I asked Bella once it was done. “Or you could use my room if you’d prefer.”

“I think Edward needs some time,” Bella said, glancing at the closed door of his room as the two of made our way along the hall.

I opened the door and ushered her into the room I shared with Emmett. For a moment Bella leaned against the doorjamb and stared around, and I realised that she’d never even seen the inside of my room before.

“Wow, this is some room,” she said finally.

“Thanks…I think!” I said, with a slightly self-conscious laugh. Our room wasn’t like anything else in the house, which all tended towards modern decor, with lots of glass and pale wood and bold, abstract art. Our room was dominated by the massive, hardwood four poster bed draped with the opulent green brocade canopy, with all the other furniture also solid, dark and masculine. “Emmett says it’s a combination of medieval bedchamber and whorehouse,” I added. “Not sure that’s a good thing, but it works for us.”

Bella laughed and made her way to the bed, climbing up onto it gingerly. She made herself a little nest in the piles of embroidered pillows and settled back with a little sigh. I had taken a blanket from the hall closet and I draped it gently over her and she tucked her legs under it with a smile. “Thank you.”

There was a knock on the door, and then Emmett entered with the bag of food we’d picked up on the way home. “Breakfast time,” he said. “What do you want Bella? I’ve got…whatever you guys picked up. Crackers? Pretzels? Juice?”

Bella wrinkled her nose. “None of it sounds all that good.”

“At least have some liquids,” I said. “You’re obviously dehydrated from all the vomiting, and that’s not good for the baby.”

 _Not good for the baby_ …the magic words. Obediently Bella opened the juice bottle and took a couple of careful, slow sips.

“Esme said she’s going to do a grocery run,” Emmett said, opening the box of crackers and sniffing at them in fascination before he handed them to Bella. “Is there anything you want? She said you might have cravings for something in particular and she’ll get it for you.”

Bella shook her head and nibbled at a cracker. “Maybe some eggs. Ice cream? I don’t know.”

“Okay. It doesn’t matter- you know the way Esme shops we’ll have a whole damn grocery store in the pantry by lunchtime,” Emmett winked at Bella and came and looked down at me. His face looked troubled, and I gently stroked his cheek and stood on my tiptoes to plant a soft kiss on his lips. For a moment he held my hand against his face before he dropped it and disappeared downstairs again.

Bella swallowed the last of her cracker and took a couple more sips of juice before she made a face and screwed the lid back onto the bottle. “I don’t want any more.”

I took the juice and the box of crackers and placed them on the dresser, thinking how bizarre the scent of human food was in this room. “Do you want anything else?” I asked. “Some water? Another blanket?”

 “No, this is fine,” Bella said, adding hesitantly. “Only…would you stay with me? If you don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind.” I sat uneasily on the edge of the bed for a moment, and then shrugged and eased back against a pile of pillows, looking up at the canopy above us.

“Thank you Rosalie,” Bella said, and I glanced sideways to see her brown eyes fixed on me. “I mean it…thank you so much for what you’re doing for me and the baby.”

“Don’t thank me,” I said, almost roughly. _Don’t thank me…not when I’m doing it and feeling sick with jealousy and I still half hate you all at the same time._

“Bella…” I said in a low voice a moment later. “Why did you call me and ask _me_ to help you? It’s not as though we’ve ever been friends, and you know that Alice and Esme would do anything they could for you…” My voice trailed away.

Bella sighed. “I know they would. But that’s kind of the problem…they’ll do anything for _me._ And this time it’s not just about me, is it?” Her hand rubbed her belly gently through the soft, fuzzy blanket and she looked me directly in the eyes. “I’m not stupid Rosalie. I know that this pregnancy is really unknown territory. I _believe_ it can work out, but I know the risks and I’m willing to take them. I _want_ to take them, if it means my baby has a chance, even if gets ugly and even if…well, even if it takes everything, you know?”

Silently I nodded. Who would have thought that quiet, unassuming Bella had such strength and courage hidden behind her meek façade?

“The others love me too much,” Bella said softly. “Edward…he can’t bear it. And Alice, I don’t think she will watch me die so that the baby has a chance to live. But you’re a fighter Rosalie, and you won’t let emotion get in the way. You don’t like me that much,” she finished with a laugh.

I made a face. “I don’t NOT like you! You make me sound horrible.”  Although I had to concede that I had never gone out of my way to show her my best side.

Bella shook her head. “No, not horrible. Strong,” she said earnestly. “You’re strong Rosalie, strong enough to do whatever it takes, even if that’s hard and goes against everyone else, and even if you don’t want to do it. Stronger than me. And that’s why I called you…because that’s what the baby and I need.”


	7. A Poisoned Miracle

Even when Bella’s eyelids dropped shut and her breath evened out into the regular rhythm of sleep I stayed beside her. I could hear the low murmur of conversation from downstairs and I wondered with a twinge of anxiety what everyone else was thinking. Bella was right that I was strong enough to stand against them all if I had to…but deep inside I hoped I wouldn’t have to.

There was a soft tap on the door, and Esme opened it and stepped through. Her eyes were troubled as they strayed to Bella’s sleeping form, but she smiled at me with her usual kindness.

“Rosalie, the others would like it if you would go downstairs and talk with them,” she whispered.

“Bella asked me to stay with her,” I said, unwilling to leave her defenceless.

“I’ll sit in here for you,” Esme offered.

I looked at her suspiciously. “You know I’m doing what Bella wants, right?”

Esme nodded. “I understand that. But there are a lot of issues here Rosalie…”

I shook my head. “I won’t let them take her choices away, the way mine were taken away.”

“No one is going to do anything that Bella doesn’t want them to,” Esme said. “Not now. They just want to talk to you for a little while Rosalie, that’s all.”

Reluctantly I rose from the bed and stood on the landing outside, looking down into the living room. It was only when I could see that all the others were indeed there that I walked away from Bella and downstairs, sitting down on the bottom step so that no one could get up to her without going past me.

Edward gave a low growl and I guessed he was reading my thoughts. “I cannot believe you think I would _hurt_ her,” he hissed.

I glared back at him. “You have a history of doing things she doesn’t want ‘for her own good’…not this time Edward.”

“Rosalie, Edward,” Carlisle said wearily. “Can we please just talk here?”

“Talk away,” I said, folding my arms. “But it won’t change anything. This is all about what Bella wants.”

Carlisle handed me a piece of paper covered with figures and notes in his elegant handwriting. “I’ve done a quick analysis of Bella’s blood. There will be more results later, but this is what I have so far.”

I scanned it quickly. “Okay, so she’s not exactly healthy.” Bella’s blood test results were all over the place. Almost nothing was within normal range. “But we can keep an eye on this Carlisle. There are supplements and vitamins we can get in to her, drugs to control the nausea, iv nutrition and blood transfusions if she needs those. You can access whatever she needs, and I can help you administer it.”

“And what then?” Edward snapped. He was wild eyed with a mix of terror and rage. “We keep Bella alive just so she can gestate a monster? What happens when it’s born and it’s some kind of fiend?”

I threw up my hands. “It’s a baby, Edward!”

“Of course, we all know that’s what YOU want!” Edward screamed at me. “You’ll sacrifice Bella, put the whole family at risk from some unknown monstrosity just because YOU want a baby?!”

“That has nothing to do with this!” I hissed through gritted teeth, seeing through a haze of rage that Emmett had moved to stand where he would be perfectly placed to intervene between Edward and I. Jasper drifted a little closer and I felt the familiar soothing vibrations of his calmness. Edward obviously felt it too, because his shoulders dropped a little and he rubbed his face, turning away from me.

I took a deep breath and stood up, beginning to back up the stairs. “This is about what Bella wants,” I said flatly. “This is about _her_ choice. Not mine and not yours. And you can all go to hell if you think you’re going to manipulate me, or her, into making her do something she doesn’t want to do.”

  Upstairs Bella was still asleep and Esme was standing by the window, looking out. She turned as I entered.

“Did you know that they were going to ambush me?” I said sourly.

Esme smiled apologetically. “It wasn’t an ambush. They just wanted to talk to you and see what you were thinking, and make sure you understand what’s going on.”

I rolled my eyes impatiently. “I don’t think I’m the one who doesn’t understand what’s going on. Bella is pregnant and she wants to stay that way…it’s beyond me why no one else seems to understand _that_.”

“I think some of us understand more than you’re giving us credit for,” Esme said. Her voice was still low, so as not to wake Bella, but there was a definite edge to it. “Please try and keep that in mind Rosalie.”

Without another word she left the room, and I sighed and sat back down on the bed. Beside me Bella moaned in her sleep and moved her head restlessly. “Edward…” she mumbled, and I wondered what she was dreaming about.

She didn’t sleep easily, tossing and turning and making little whimpering noises. I watched her until I remembered, with a wry grin, how often I had mocked Edward for watching her sleep. I picked up a book and read until I heard the change in her heart rate and breathing as she woke.

“Rosalie,” she said groggily, struggling to get up, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

This time I didn’t bother to ask, I just picked her up and sped her into the bathroom, getting her onto her knees in front of the toilet before she vomited. As reluctant as I was to get any more closely acquainted with her effluence I noted that it was probably most of the cracker and juice she’d swallowed earlier.

“No one ever uses this toilet, do they?” she asked mournfully, and when I snorted she giggled weakly and rested her head against the seat. “I feel so disgusting.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m so sorry you have to deal with me like this.”

“I told you to stop apologising!” I crouched down beside her. “Bella, I’m on your side and that means I’m doing whatever you need me to do. Even if that involves vomit,” I said with a grimace, handing her a tissue to wipe her mouth. “Would you like to take a shower?”

“I’m not sure I can stand up that long,” Bella admitted glumly.

“Bath?” I offered.

“What? In that swimming pool?” Bella nodded towards the giant tub that filled up practically half the room.

I laughed and flipped the faucet on. “Well, it does have to fit Emmett in it!”

Bella stayed slumped over the toilet sipping the glass of water I gave her while I filled the tub.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” I said, moving towards the door, but as Bella climbed wearily to her feet and then swayed dizzily I ducked back to her side and caught her to steady her. “Perhaps a bath isn’t a great idea?”

“No, I feel too gross. I need one, I just…need some help.”

Gently I helped Bella undress and slip in to the warm water. She kept her eyes closed in embarrassment, and for a moment I was glad she wasn’t looking at my face as I took in her naked body. The faint bruise from the baby’s kick had darkened in the intervening hours, and had been joined by another, fainter mark low down near her hipbone. Surely her belly couldn’t already be bigger than it had been when Carlisle examined her? The tight, shiny skin looked like it was starting to dry and split under the unnatural stress being placed on it. And despite the burgeoning baby bump her bones were noticeably more prominent than they had been when I’d seen her slip into her wedding dress only two week prior.

“I’ll wash your hair,” I said, forcing my voice to sound natural. I pulled out my cell phone and rapidly texted Esme to buy some skin cream while she was out. “You’ll feel better when you’re all clean, and then Esme will be back with the groceries and we can get you something to eat. We’ll find something you can keep down.”

Bella said nothing as I washed her hair and lifted her from the tub. She wrapped the towel gratefully around herself with a little shiver and gave me a tiny, embarrassed smile, and I realised how difficult it was for her to have to rely on me for help in such intimate ways. I knew she hadn’t liked me, I knew she had felt inadequate in the face of my fierce vampire beauty, I knew she had been afraid of me…and yet here she was, naked and vulnerable and asking me for my help. Courage comes in all forms, I reminded myself, and maybe Bella Swan would prove to have more of it than I could have ever imagined.

I left her in the bathroom to find some clean clothes for her. I knew she had some things in Edward’s room but I was wary of running in to him and I thought she might be more comfortable in looser clothes. She sure wasn’t going to be able to button her jeans up anyway, so I dug in my wardrobe until I found some stretch leggings and a sweatshirt. Forks High Spartans said the logo, and I wrinkled my nose- when had I ever bought a _Forks High_ sweatshirt?

“You’ll need maternity clothes,” I said brightly, handing over the clothes and waiting as she pulled them on. “Alice will help with that…any excuse to shop, you know!”

Bella laughed and then winced. “He’s getting bigger,” she told me. “I can feel him moving more and more.” She rolled the sleeves up on the sweatshirt.  “I hate shopping,” she muttered. “This is fine…even if I do feel like Mike Newton.”

I laughed. “Let’s get you downstairs and find you some food. I know you feel nauseous but we have to try and find something you can keep down.”

Bella nodded, and this time there was barely a flicker of self-consciousness from either of us as I scooped her up and carried her downstairs. I heard Esme and Emmett putting away groceries in the kitchen and so Bella and I headed in there.

“You look better after your nap and shower,” Esme said to Bella, cheerfully and not entirely truthfully.

Bella sat gingerly on a stool at the kitchen bench as I rummaged through the paper bag from the drugstore. Prescription anti-nausea meds- good. “Take these,” I ordered, handing the pills over to Bella and mixing her some Hydralite. “Drink this too, see how it stays down.” I also reached into the cupboard beside the stove and pulled out the biggest mixing bowl we had in there, putting it beside Bella on the bench. “Just in case,” I said to her practically as she grimaced.

Edward came in the door, and I noticed the way Bella’s face lit up from the inside as she looked at him. “Hi,” she said eagerly. “I’ve had a nap and a bath in Rose’s swimming pool. I’m feeling fine now. I think it was just all the travel wore me down a bit…” As if to prove her point she drank another swallow from the glass and smiled at him. “Once I’m done I thought I might rest on the couch for a little while, and maybe you could play me something on the piano, I’d like…oooh.” Her voice broke with a small gasp of pain that she couldn’t quite bite back, and Edward’s face contorted with agony.

I was at her side in an instant. “What was it?”

She shook her head, and I could tell it was taking effort to keep her breaths steady. “Just…just a kick,” she gasped. For a moment she took my hand and pressed it against the swelling bulge under her sweatshirt, and I felt the vibrations of the tiny thing swimming inside his watery world. Despite the fact that the movements hurt her, Bella’s brown eyes were shining. “Edward, you should feel this…”

“No!” Edward sounded like he was being strangled. “Bella, I…” He spun on his heel and left the room, and Bella swallowed hard and went back to her drink.

“He’ll come around,” she said, and I don’t know if it was me or the baby she was talking to as her fingers unconsciously stroked her skin. “He just doesn’t understand yet.”

I sat beside her, my face like stone and my fingers burning with what I had just felt. A baby… _Bella and Edward’s baby, not yours_ …moving and touching me through her skin. A momentary, fleeting connection with something extraordinary. But instead of awe at the miracle all I felt was the poisoned bitterness of envy strangling my heart once again, because none of that miracle was for me. Eighty years of grieving for a child I would never have, and a moment of feeling life move in Bella’s womb through my hands was as close as I was ever going to get to my dreams.

I didn’t realise how tightly my hands were clenched until Emmett came and covered them with his own. I looked into his eyes for only a second but I saw the depth of his compassion there, and I knew that he knew.

With a great effort I relaxed my fingers and gave him a brittle smile. Oh, how I wanted to just grab his hand and run with him! Run far away, somewhere I could scream and shout and smash things to exorcise my ghosts, somewhere I could throw down my beautiful man and lose myself in being with him until there was no room for anything in my heart and body and mind but love and pleasure. But beside me there was Bella, holding the chains of the promises I had made and keeping me tied to her and her unborn baby, and I knew what I had to do. So I took a deep breath and brushed my hair away from my face and smiled gamely at Bella.

“You need to eat. You said you thought maybe some ice cream…chunky monkey or cookies’n’cream?”


	8. Keep My Heart Beating

Bella ate the ice cream in the living room, sitting on the sofa and watching Edward at the piano. I sat at the other end of the sofa, my eyes on both of them, mentally reviewing all my medical and obstetrical knowledge for anything that might be applicable to the situation at hand. Bella’s face was peaceful as the beautiful melodies danced through the air.

Carlisle entered the room and silently handed me another page of notes and figures relating to Bella’s blood tests. I frowned and shrugged as I passed it back to him. “She’s taken the anti-nausea meds now and she’s drinking electrolytes- that might help get some of her levels back to normal.”

“I’ve got some injectable vitamins and supplements I’d like to give you Bella,” Carlisle said.

Bella looked at him suspiciously. “That’s _all_ they are?”

Edward’s hands played a jarring wrong note as his emotion got the better of him but Carlisle simply nodded at Bella calmly. “Vitamins and supplements for you, that’s all. I can bring them in with the packaging unopened and you can have Rosalie check them if it would make you feel more comfortable.” He flicked his eyes my way, too quickly for me to even guess what he was thinking.

“Rosalie?” Bella said tentatively.

I shrugged. “It’s about time I used my medical knowledge for something useful. And anything we can do to keep you healthy is good for the baby too.”

Bella consented to Carlisle giving her the shots once I’d examined the unopened packages and assured her they were safe, turning her face away from the sight of the needles entering her skin and screwing up her face briefly. “I’ve always hated getting shots,” she murmured, looking embarrassed.

“Well, we’re all done here now,” Carlisle said cheerfully, and Bella laughed as he put a Sesame Street band aid over the needle marks on her arm. “I’m not implying you’re a child Bella, they’re the only band aids I have in my bag!”

“I like it,” she said with a smile. “And it’s good to know you’re all ready to be a paediatrician.”

Carlisle’s smile faded and he made a non-committal noise before he bundled up the discarded wrappers and empty syringes and took them in to the kitchen to dispose of them.

“It would be handy having a doctor in the house,” Bella commented absently. “Especially for someone as clumsy as I am…oh.”

As she gagged I had the mixing bowl up under her chin to catch before she vomited again. So much for the anti-nausea meds, I thought with a flash of concern. Edward abandoned the piano and came to stand on Bella’s other side, his face anguished.

“Oh, please don’t watch me,” Bella said to him frantically. “This is…urgh…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Edward murmured. “You know I love you. I just hate to see you suffering.”

Bella spat into the basin. “Well, it’s all part of pregnancy I guess.” She didn’t see the spasm of pain cross his face, and a moment later he took the bowl from my hands and disappeared into the kitchen.

He didn’t return. Instead Carlisle came back in with a clean basin, a glass of iced water, some jelly beans, magazines and a jar of skin lotion, all of which he placed on the side table. “Try sipping the water or chewing on the ice,” he suggested to Bella.

“I thought if she can’t keep any liquids down soon we should put in an iv for rehydration,” I said quietly to Carlisle, as Bella lay back against the arm of the sofa and shut her eyes. “If we do a heplock it can stay in as long as she needs it.”

He nodded. “I’m having some supplies couriered over, so we’ll have what we need by tonight. I want to do some research now, but I’ll only be in the study if you need me.”

Alone, Bella looked at me with her eyes sunken and exhausted. “Don’t make me eat anything else.” Her hands slid under the jumper and she scratched her stomach, screwing her face up in pain as her nails raked across the sensitive skin. “I’m so itchy, but scratching it hurts so much. I feel as though I’m peeling the skin off in layers.”

“Just try some water,” I said. “Ice. And if you could swallow the jellybeans the sugar might help. Do you want some cream on your belly?”

“Can you do it?” she whispered, her mouth quivering. “Your cold hands…it will feel good on all the itching.”

“Sure,” I said slowly, pulling off my rings and dropping them onto the side table and taking the lotion Esme had bought. I remembered what Emmett had said about falling into some kind of alternate universe…it felt like only a week ago that Bella Swan was the new girl in town and I was coolly planning how I could murder her because she’d discovered our secret. Now here I was rubbing her pregnant belly and planning just how far I’d go in order to keep her alive.

“This is nice,” Bella said. I looked up and saw that she was holding my celtic knot ring, looking at it closely.

“It’s my wedding ring,” I told her. “One of them…from 1969.”

Bella gave me a questioning look. “How many weddings have you had?”

“Five,” I said, with a slight flush of self-consciousness. “The first one, of course, back in 1937 about a year after Emmett was changed. One in the 50s after Alice and Jasper came- that one was because Alice wanted to do another wedding. Then in ’69, our hippie flower child wedding; one in the 80’s…oh, that’s the most flouncy, puffy princess meringue of a dress ever, I’ll show you sometime, you’ll laugh so hard…and then the last one was just before we came to Forks.”

“Wow,” Bella said with a giggle, “And here I fought against having ONE wedding.” She looked at the other rings. “So are these all from weddings?”

I shook my head. “No. I wear that wedding ring because it’s my favourite. And while it doesn’t matter now of course, it doesn’t just scream out ‘wedding band!’ which means I can wear it to school and no one will question it. That ruby and diamond one is my ‘real’ engagement ring though, from when Emmett proposed.” Bella picked it up and looked at it, and I added slowly, “Edward bought it you know, for Emmett to give to me. I wasn’t supposed to know that, Edward never does boast or demand credit for what he does, but Emmett didn’t have any money so it wasn’t hard to figure out. Edward helped in a lot of ways to get me and Emmett together. The two of us…well, mostly me, really…we had a lot of issues and Edward really helped us get through that. He didn’t always hate me,” I added, with a laugh that came out more brittle than I had intended it to.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Bella said in surprise. “Not at all! He’s angry right now, but he admires you a lot. He loves all of you and would do anything for the family.” Bella looked anxious. “I’m sorry that I’ve put you in the middle of this Rosalie, I really am.”

“Edward and I have seventy years of conflict behind us,” I said, forcing my voice to sound light. “I don’t like that he can read my mind…and to be quite honest, he hates that he _has_ to read my mind! This will just be another bump in the road and once all is said and done we’ll be friends again.” Remembering the fury and anguish on his face as he looked from Bella to me earlier though, I certainly wasn’t as confident as I sounded. Edward and I had fought, yes- petty arguments and quarrels galore over the years, but nothing with the depth and intensity of now, as we fought battle over the lives of Bella and her baby.

Before I could say more though I felt movement under my hands as the baby moved and I looked at Bella with a genuine smile. “He’s waking up in there.” Bella’s skin was smooth and slippery with the lotion and my hands slid easily over the water balloon of her womb. “I’m pretty sure that’s got to be a foot,” I said, feeling the point of pressure against my palm.

Bella’s sunken eyes had an almost fervent light in them as she looked down at me and my hands on her belly. “I’m so glad you see him!” she whispered passionately. “The others don’t see it yet…they’re so afraid of what might happen that they just can’t accept the idea that this is a _wonderful_ thing. Edward’s baby!” Her hands covered mine and she looked at me intently. “But you see it Rosalie, and I’m so glad. You’ll love him, won’t you? No matter what happens to me, you’ll love him and make sure he’s okay and taken care of, won’t you?” She pressed my hands against her belly and both of us felt the answering bump from the baby kicking. “No matter what…you have to love him for me, Rosalie.”

 _No matter what…_ I looked sharply at Bella, and she looked back at me with a previously unknown intensity in her usually mild brown eyes.

“I know what Edward thinks,” she said, and her voice was quiet and she spoke fast. “He think I’m not strong enough to do this, not strong enough to keep my baby safe and help him grow and bring him to birth. I’m just a human, with human strength, and my baby is going to be so much more than me…but I _can_ do it Rosalie. I know I can…all I have to do is keep my heart beating. The rest doesn’t matter, does it? Just my heart beating, until the baby’s born, and then Edward or Carlisle can fix me.”

I understood Bella’s plan then. She would endure anything, put her body through unimaginable stresses and pain if that’s what the baby needed her to do. _All I have to do is keep my heart beating_. As long as her heart beat, the venom could save her. Or damn her…she would become one of us. As long as her heart kept beating.

“I don’t care what it takes,” she told me fiercely. “I’ll throw up every hour and let him kick me black and blue and split my skin from the inside out; I’ll do anything you tell me to medically that might keep me going. And if I can’t talk for myself Rosalie, YOU have to talk for me, please do that…don’t let Edward or Carlisle jump in and do something that might hurt the baby, no matter what is happening to me.”

I looked at her steadily. “You’ve really thought about this?”

Bella nodded earnestly. “I really have. I understand the risks and I’m willing to take them no matter what the outcome. I know what I’m asking of you Rosalie, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me to know that you’re on my side. On my side and on the baby’s side.”

“Edward will never forgive himself if you die,” I said quietly. I wasn’t trying to change her mind, but I wanted to make sure that she really was thinking things through from every angle.

Bella’s face twisted in pain. “I know. And I hate to think of him hurting…but like I said, all I really have to do is keep my hearting beating, and I’m strong enough for that. I can do that much, for him.” She sighed deeply and tugged the sweater back down over her midriff, holding her hands protectively over her bump. “I know it sounds crazy,” she added a few moments later. “I’ve never even thought about babies before, and now I’m ready to lay down my life for one…but it’s different, now that he’s in there. I didn’t know it would feel like this. But somehow, now that I’m pregnant he’s just become the most important thing in the world to me, and nothing matters more to me than him being safe.”

I covered her with the same fuzzy blanket, and for a brief moment rested my hand on the bump of her growing baby, meeting her smile with one of my own. “We’ll make sure he’s safe,” I said, and it was as though the connection between Bella and I was could be felt as something real. “I’ll take care of both of you, whatever it takes.”

My promise seemed to make Bella relax, and only a few moments later she drifted off into sleep. I picked up the remote to turn on the television and began flipping through the channels restlessly. I was halfway through the satellite channels when there was a sudden draft from the kitchen door and Emmett swooped in and stopped in a silent crouch in front of me, his eyes dark on mine.

“Come upstairs with me baby,” he murmured, clasping my hands and laying a trail of kisses up my arm until he was nuzzling into my neck.

 _Oh Emmett…what you do to me!_ My body’s reaction to his touch and scent was immediate and instinctive. I slid closer to him, dropping my head back as I felt the scrape of his teeth on my neck, and winding my hands through his hair even as I mumbled, “I can’t…Bella.”

“She’s sleeping,” Emmett breathed, kissing up my throat and catching my lips in his with possessive force. “Just a little while...come upstairs,” he begged. “Or outside, or into the garage, or fuck…over on the stairs, _anywhere_ pretty girl…” He was half lying across me by then, pressing me back into the sofa cushions, all broad hard muscle and soft lips and wandering hands.

“Mmmm,” I kissed him back, and then reluctantly pushed him away, my hands on his chest. “Emmett…I can’t now.”

Emmett’s eyes were very dark, and he looked at me like a man tormented. “Rosa…”

 _God, I want you Emmett._ I took a steadying breath and curved my hands around his face as he pressed his forehead against mine. “I have to stay with Bella,” I said quietly. “She needs me and I promised her that I’d look out for her. Edward is out of his head over what’s going on, and I don’t trust him an inch. I’m sorry.” I took in his frustrated face and the big hands and bulge in his trousers that promised such pleasure and I bit my lip hard. _Damn it._

 Emmett’s shoulders slumped in resignation and for a long moment he closed his eyes. “I am backing you with what you’re doing here,” he said at last, his voice low. “But I can see what it’s doing to you…and Bella isn’t the only one who matters, angel girl.” He kissed me, tenderly and chastely, and then pushed me over on the sofa. “Now shove over- if all I can do is sit here and watch tv with you then that’s what I’ll do, but I can’t sit next to Bella with my cock this hard because she might wake up and see me and she’s my brother’s wife and that would be wrong.” 


	9. Perfect Beauty and Civility

The minutes ticked by like hours and the hours felt like days as we sat and watched in growing concern as Bella’s condition deteriorated. She slept, woke to vomit and then slept again. Carlisle had the medical equipment he’d requested delivered and he immediately placed an iv in Bella’s arm and we ran saline in to rehydrate her, giving her more and stronger anti-nausea drugs at the same time. Esme offered all kinds of foods and drinks to tempt her, but although Bella tried it all without complaint everything came back up. Sometimes the vomit was streaked with blood.

Carlisle measured Bella morning and night, and there was noticeable growth each time he laid his hands on her. Noticeable growth in the baby at least- Bella herself seemed to be shrinking, the flesh disappearing and the skin wrapping tighter around bones that had already been too prominent. But her belly swelled and the baby grew; and although bruises flowed like ink stains under the taut skin Bella saw nothing but the future of her son and was happy in his obvious strength.

I stayed by her side, because she asked me to. She made me check everything Carlisle wanted to do to her and once Carlisle had placed the iv I was the only one who administered it. I held the basin while she vomited and I wiped her face clean afterwards, and when she didn’t have the strength to even walk to the toilet I carried her into the bathroom and helped her there as well.

Through it all, we talked. To distract her from her nausea, from the excruciating pains that tore through her belly and hips and back as all her muscles were brutally stretched to accommodate the growing baby, I talked to her. I asked her questions about growing up in Phoenix, about her mother, about the books she liked to read and the movies she liked to watch. Breaking the private habits of a lifetime I opened up a little and told her some of my stories, about finding Emmett, about making a family with Carlisle and Esme and Edward, about Alice and Jasper joining us and what it was like to go to high school again and again and again.

“I guess I’ll find out…after,” Bella said, stroking her stomach. She looked up at me with an apprehensive look. “Have you forgiven me, after all this, for wanting to be one of you? Even if it is not what you would have chosen?”

I hesitated, gathering my thoughts. The two of us were alone, at least on the surface- you could never be sure who was listening to what in that house. “It’s never been a matter of forgiving you,” I said slowly. “I didn’t agree with you and…well, I didn’t always believe you knew what it was you were wanting.”

“I wanted Edward,” Bella said softly. “Always, right from the very first time I saw him I knew he was for me.”

“I know you feel that way,” I said. “And I wouldn’t presume to make any judgements about your relationship with Edward, but Bella… _there is so much more to this life than that.”_

She was looking at me intently and, after a long silent minute while I half waited for Edward to come in and make me stop talking, I went on. “You look at Edward and you see the glamour, you see the magic of immortality and the illusion of perfect beauty and civility- and it’s not like that. Not really. Those newborns we fought when Victoria came, those wild and violent and bloodthirsty vampires… _that_ is just as real as we are. The Volturi, with their centuries of ruthlessness and power behind them…they’re real too. You’ve met them, you know that. Vampires drink blood Bella…we kill people. People like you, like your father, like your friends at school- vampires would take any of them and tear the throat out of them and suck them dry without a second thought or a twinge of conscience. And yes, in this family we try to be different, we try not to do that, but nothing can erase instinct and sometimes we fall. Apart from Carlisle, _all of us have killed._ I’ve seen Emmett and Jasper tear a body apart and then fight _each other_ because the desire for that blood overtook every single other thought and all feeling they had ever had for each other. Did you know that?”

Wide eyed, Bella shook her head.

“I’m not saying this to make you change your mind,” I said, more gently. “Not now- it’s too late. But I don’t want you to turn around in five, ten, fifty years and say _I didn’t know._ ”

Bella fiddled with the blanket that was covering her. “I’m glad you’re being honest with me,” she said quietly. “It won’t change my mind- nothing would ever do that – but you’re right that I need to know.” She shifted position and then made a face. “I need the bathroom again…do you mind? Maybe a bath?”

I took Bella upstairs, and ran another tub which she slipped into gratefully. “Oh, this water is nice,” she said, half floating, her belly already big enough to rise up out of the water. “The warmth…I’m so cold all the time. And all my muscles are so tight it feels good to relax them a bit.”

“All your muscles and ligaments are stretching pretty fast,” I said. “You’d usually have nine months for them to get used to your new shape…you’re lucky if you’re going to get nine days.” I kept my tone light, although I couldn’t deny my deep concern over the rapidity of the baby’s growth- how long could Bella continue to have her body’s resources ravaged by the creature growing within? Looking at her naked form now, the bruises across her belly and the shadows cast by bones protruding under skin that was too tight, I said to her, “I think we might have to go with some iv nutrition for you. The saline we’ve been using is keeping you hydrated but not much else- we can give you something else that’s got fats and proteins and things as well, which you need since you can’t seem to keep anything down.”

Bella shrugged. “Whatever you say, doctor Rosalie. How come you never became a doctor like Carlisle?”

“Partly because I don’t think my control is as good as his,” I said candidly. “Theory isn’t a problem, dissection…well, I can cut up dead bodies as well as anyone. Better than most, to be honest, since I’ve had rather more practise than most people! And I did some practical rotations. But things like surgery and trauma medicine…I don’t think I could handle that much blood in that close quarters. But also I never really wanted to be a practising doctor. I studied medicine partly as a favour to Carlisle, to help him keep current. Also, I have to admit, I did medicine partly because Edward had and he didn’t think I could do it and I wanted to prove him wrong.” I grinned at Bella. “Unlike him, my motives are often not very noble at all!”   

Bella started laughing, and then groaned and put her hands on her belly. “Oh, it hurts to laugh. And now I’ve woken him up and he’s kicking…” Below her laughter I heard a snap, and her face suddenly turned even whiter. She clutched her stomach and curled into herself as she screamed.

“Bella!” I had her out of the water and an enormous fluffy towel thrown over her shoulders in seconds. “What is it?”

Bella’s face was greenish white and pinched with pain, and her breath was coming in shallow pants. Before she could speak I was shoved aside by Edward, who came crashing into the bathroom and took Bella into his arms, glaring at me accusingly. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Bella whimpered. She looked across at me with frightened eyes as Carlisle appeared in the doorway, his face concerned. “Rose, I’m really fine…”

“Stop being so noble!” Edward choked.

“You need to tell me what happened,” I said gently. “We can’t take care of you if we don’t know.”

“My ribs,” Bella said reluctantly. “When he kicked there was a sharp pain here.” Her hand drifted to her lowest rib and she winced.

“May I?” Carlisle went down on his knees beside Bella and when she nodded he slipped a hand inside the towel, eliciting a cry of pain from Bella. “I think it’s a cracked rib,” he said to her. “I’ll need to x-ray it to be sure.”

“The radiation isn’t good for the baby,” Bella’s voice was nearly inaudible, but stubborn.

“Bella…” Edward spoke through gritted teeth. “We need to take care of _you.”_

I hesitated for a moment, as Bella’s eyes sought mine. “We should x-ray it,” I said quietly to her. “Since we haven’t been able to get an image of the baby it seems as though the radiation isn’t penetrating the amniotic sac anyway, and it would be safer to check on your rib. If it is broken,” and I couldn’t ignore the fact that I’d heard a snap, “then it would be good to know if it’s in any way an unstable fracture. We don’t want it to pierce a lung or something.”

Bella nodded cautiously. “Okay then, we’ll x-ray it. Can you help me get dressed please Rosalie?”

Carlisle and Edward backed out of the room and I helped Bella dry off and dress, finding more leggings for her and one of Jasper’s sweatshirts that was too big in the shoulders and arms but offered plenty of room for Bella’s growing belly. She didn’t make a sound as I helped her into the clothes, but her lips were pressed tight together and the tears in her eyes showed clearly that she was hurting.

As carefully as I could I helped Bella down the hallway to the room Carlisle had put all his medical equipment in. Edward’s eyes on me were icy, and I saw his lips draw back in a silent snarl as Bella put her arms around my neck so I could lift her gently up on to the bed.

The x-ray showed an unmistakable fracture in Bella’s lower rib. “It’s not too bad,” I said critically. “The bone’s not out of place and it’s not a risk to your lungs or any other organs.” I glanced across at Carlisle to see if he agreed with my assessment and he nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s going to hurt for a while Bella, but Rosalie’s correct. As far as these things though, it’s not too bad.”

“Not too bad?” Edward ground out between gritted teeth. “That… _thing_ …is _breaking her bones._ Carlisle, how can you in good conscience allow this? Bella, you HAVE to listen to reason! It’s breaking your ribs now, you haven’t kept food down in days, you’re dying in front of my eyes!” He took her hands in his and pressed them to his lips. “Please, my love, please…”

Bella’s eyes filled with tears, and I moved to the opposite side of the bed.

“You’ll be fine Bella,” I said. “Like you said…just keep your heart beating. It’s only a rib.” Ignoring the look of murderous rage in Edward’s eyes I smiled at her encouragingly. “How about we go downstairs and get some TPN going? That’s nutrition going straight into your bloodstream, so we can give your stomach a rest.”

As carefully as I could I carried Bella downstairs and settled her on the couch, propped up on pillows and covered with a blanket. I could hear Edward’s anguished voice upstairs and Carlisle’s measured tones in answer, but I focussed on hooking up Bella’s iv again as she lay limply on the couch, her face white and tears sliding silently out from underneath her lowered lashes as she drifted off to sleep.

She was deeply asleep when there was movement on the stairs and then Edward was beside me, his hands gripping my upper arm like a vise. “Into the kitchen- I need to talk to you.” His voice was low enough not to wake Bella, but there was no mistaking the intensity of it.

“You take your hand off me or I bite it off,” I said distinctly.

Emmett and Carlisle were there before either Edward or I moved.

“Edward,” Carlisle said quietly, as Emmett placed a restraining hand on my other arm.

Slowly Edward released his grip, and then Carlisle nodded towards the doorway. “Kitchen, both of you. Bella will be fine for a moment,” he said to me, as I looked down at her sleeping form.

The whole family gathered in the kitchen. I stood in the doorway, Emmett slouched against the wall at my side. Alice was perched cross-legged on the bench, resting her chin rather dispiritedly on Jasper’s shoulder, and it occurred to me that she had barely been near Bella since she got home. Esme, Carlisle and Edward stood on the other side of the island bench, facing Emmett and I.

“Don’t you ever put a hand on me again,” I said flatly to Edward.

“Bella is dying,” he said, ignoring my words, and his voice was that of a broken man. “You must be able to see that.”

I looked at Carlisle, who looked back at me steadily. “You know as well as I do how quickly she’s going downhill Rosalie.”

“I know she’s not very well,” I conceded. “But we’ve got iv nutrition going now, and there are other anti-nausea drugs and…”

“And what?” Edward asked hoarsely. “Now that it’s breaking her bones? You will simply _watch her die_ , just so you can get your hands on that baby? You will sacrifice her to get what you have always wanted?”

_This isn’t what I wanted Edward. How little you understand anything, if you think THIS is what I wanted._

“I’ve talked to Bella.” I looked directly at everyone in the room. “She’s told me what she wants. We wait til the baby is born and then change her. That’s what she said- keep her heart beating until the baby is born, and then let the venom heal her.”

“It may not work Rosalie,” Carlisle said. “We may not be able to act in time.”

“She knows that.”

Edward’s fists crushed the edge of the granite countertop. “And you don’t think that plan is insanity?” He swung around to look at the rest of the family with wild eyed grief. “You don’t think we need to act? You will all just go along with Rosalie on this even though it means Bella’s death?”

“It’s not a family vote situation,” Alice said morosely. Jasper turned and rubbed a hand across her head and she closed her eyes wearily. “I think Bella’s crazy and I think Rosalie is wrong to encourage her, but it’s not up to me,” she said sadly.

Carlisle looked at Edward compassionately. “I’m sorry Edward. As a doctor I’m dedicated to preserving life and this is a terrible situation to be in, but I can’t act forcibly against Bella. If she changes her mind…” He shrugged helplessly.

Esme touched Edward’s hand. “I’m sorry Edward, but we have to respect Bella’s choice.”

Edward’s eyes looked a thousand years old. “Then there’s nothing else to say,” he said tonelessly, turning his back to the room. “That thing will kill her and I’m going to lose her.”


	10. The Visitor

Back in the living room I stood by the sofa, looking down at Bella. She was breathing shallowly, whimpering occasionally as her body twitched or she moved and her rib hurt. Frowning, I hoped the iv nutrition dripping into her veins would make a difference…she was dangerously weak. Her heartbeat already sounded more laboured than it had yesterday.

Alice and Jasper entered the room, Alice pouting miserably and Jasper looking serious. They came closer and I felt a lazy calm spreading through my body.

“You keep manipulating my moods and I’ll set you on fire,” I muttered to Jasper, who chuckled in amusement.

“Don’t I just love you too, darlin’…” he murmured sweetly, never one to react to my aggression in kind. “I’m doing it for Bella, not you.”

Esme, who had come in behind them, clicked her tongue at me disapprovingly. “Rosalie, you need a break. Go outside for a little while, or go upstairs and shower and change your clothes. I’ll sit with Bella.”

I shook my head stubbornly. “I’m fine. I promised her I’d stay.”

Esme looked at me sternly. “Bella won’t mind, and I promise you that nothing will happen. I shall sit here with her while she sleeps, and you can have a little break to get yourself together.” When I hesitated again her face softened and she smiled at me gently. “Really Rose, you need a moment. Have I ever given you reason to distrust me?”

 “No.” I glanced down at myself and thought I probably did need a shower and change. My trousers were crumpled and my silk shirt was water spotted and stained from Bella. I made a face and, albeit reluctantly, turned and sped upstairs.

 _Oh this is nice._ I tipped my head back in the shower and let the water run down my face as I closed my eyes. Behind my eyelids I saw Bella, thin and hunched with pain, but I pushed the image ruthlessly away from me. Esme was right, I needed a break. Despite what Edward might think, I was not heartless and watching Bella fade away in front of my eyes was a grievous experience. _Whatever it takes…_ I rested my head against the tiled wall for a second and sighed.

The shower door was yanked open and abruptly the space was invaded by Emmett, still stripping his clothes off even as his mouth came down hard on mine.

“What the…”I mumbled, feeling half dizzy with the sudden assault on my senses. The smell and taste of him, the feel of his body naked and slick with water and pressing against mine… _“Emmett…”_

“Need you,” he grunted. “Please...want you, Rosa girl.” He kissed me again, one hand tangling in my hair to guide my face towards his, the other hand sliding down across my chest and belly and cupping my sex. “Christ, I’ve missed you pretty girl!”

Between the water from the shower and my own flaring desire for him his fingers moved against me with slippery ease, and I pressed my face against his chest to muffle my low, keening whimpers. _“Emmett_.”

He paused in kissing me for a moment, bending his head towards me and looking at me entreatingly. “I love you,” he said hoarsely. “I know you’re doing what you think you have to do, but I _miss_ you…I know you’ll think I’m being an idiot, but you’re strung so tight right now Rosa girl, and I’m scared for you. I’m scared of what this is doing to you, this baby of Bella’s, I’m scared you’re forgetting me – forgetting _us_ \- in all this, I’m scared of what will happen between you and Edward once it’s all over…”

I took his face in between my hands and kissed him fiercely. “I will be fine,” I said fervently. “We will ALL be fine Emmett, I swear, I… _oooh,_ ” then Emmett went down on his knees and hooked one of my legs over his shoulders and did things with his mouth that banished all thoughts of Bella and Edward from my mind. _Oh, God Emmett, the things you can do to me!_ I came, shuddering as days of pent up frustration exploded in a fierce outpouring of pleasure, then grabbed his hair and dragged him to standing and kissed him with bruising force. “Now,” I gasped. “Now, Emmett...please!”

Emmett lifted me, his hands under my thighs and pulling me open at the same time as he slammed my back against the shower wall and thrust into me with a groan. “Sweet Jesus, yes!”

Beyond thought, I wrapped my legs around his hips and let him set the pace. I felt the tiles cracking against my back from the force of him pushing into me, but as Emmett shifted my weight and I arched my back and bit my lip to stop myself screaming I didn’t even care. In fact, as my awareness narrowed down to nothing but the heat of Emmett in my arms and the throbbing pulse of pure pleasure between my legs and the feel of his lips on my neck and mouth I didn’t even notice anything else. Which, given vampire strength, days of frustration and Emmett’s general carelessness, wasn’t really a good thing.

When I finally opened my eyes again, my body still twitching and pulsing blissfully, I was flat on my back on the bathroom floor, Emmett sprawled over the top of me, and an inch of water and a lot of glittering glass spread across the tiles and caught in my hair.

“Emmett! What did you do?! Oh, hell…” I pushed him off and scrambled to my feet, appalled by the destruction that met my eyes. The shower…the glass screens were gone, smashed over the bathroom floor, the tiled wall was cracked and broken, half the tiles crushed underfoot in the bottom of the shower, rapidly turning into sludge under the waterfall that was now pouring out through the wall where one of us had somehow pulled out half the pipes. “Emmett!”

“What? Oh shit,” Emmett’s eyes widened, and then he laughed and bolted to the door, bellowing, “Will someone turn off the water at the mains? Like, now?!” He turned back to the room, his eyes sparkling as he shook his head. “Haven’t done that for a while baby…damn but this is a mess.”

I was dried and dressed before someone turned the water off. Emmett pulled on a pair of jeans and then looked up sheepishly as Carlisle knocked on our bedroom door and came in.

“Could either of you enlighten me as to why there is water running down the wall in the downstairs bathroom…oh.” Carlisle looked at the destruction and shook his head with a look of long suffering patience on his face. “Fix it Emmett. Preferably before Esme sees it. You can also mop up the mess downstairs, before the water damages that bathroom as well,” he said with a resigned sigh.

“Will do, Captain!” Emmett said cheerfully, throwing down towels to soak up the water. “You gonna help me Rosa?”

I braided my still slightly damp hair and shook my head, feeling the anxiety return as I remembered my responsibilities. “Sorry. I’m going back to Bella.” I paused for a moment, long enough to wrap my arms around Emmett and bury my face in his neck. “I love you,” I muttered. “Thank you…for everything.”

Big hands stroked tenderly along the curve of my back. “My pretty girl…” he murmured, and with a last reluctant touch of his hand I whisked away downstairs.

“Should I ask?” Esme said to me dryly.

I made an apologetic face. “Best not, I think.”

Bella, who was awake and lying back on the pillow, giggled. “YOU made that noise? All that crashing?”

There were times that I was very glad that being a vampire meant blushing wasn’t possible, and this was definitely one of them. “Let’s change the subject, shall we?” I said. “Bella, would you…” I was interrupted by the ring tone of Bella’s cell phone, sitting over on the side table. “Charlie,” I said quietly.

Bella’s lip quivered and she shook her head. “I can’t talk to him again,” she said in defeat.

She had spoken to him earlier, telling him she was sick, and Carlisle had kept him away with talk of quarantine and obscure South American diseases. I had thought they were only delaying the inevitable and should have just told him she died, but with so much else to worry about no one felt prepared for that ruse. And if things went badly with the baby…well, maybe it wouldn’t be a ruse at all. I pushed the thought away and we all waited for the phone to stop ringing.

Bella slept on as the iv dripped its load of drugs and nutrients into her system. I didn’t know how much good it was doing though, as her empty stomach still kept trying to vomit and the blood and urine tests kept showing increasingly abnormal levels. When the bag was finished I disconnected it, and then sat by her silently, trying not to look at Edward’s agonised face.

The others came and joined me in the hushed room as the hours ticked by- Emmett sitting beside me and running the thick rope of my braided hair repeatedly through his fingers, Carlisle and Esme standing in front of the fireplace with their hands linked, Alice perched on the stairs with Jasper standing against the stair rail at her side, his head level with hers. Edward stood beside the couch, and his eyes never left Bella as she slept.

The noise of the motorcycle reached my years long before the vehicle itself appeared in the driveway. At first I paid no attention, and then realising it was heading towards the house I listened harder, realising it was the sound of an engine I knew. _Jacob Black._

Edward nodded at me slightly, and then looked across at Carlisle. “He’s heard we’re back,” he said bleakly. “He’s come to see how Bella has returned, and fulfil the terms of treaty…” Edward frowned. “But he’s alone.”

 _Oh great,_ I thought irritably. _Murderous, lovelorn werewolf, intent on revenge…just what we need._

 As the roar of the motorbike intensified, Bella’s eyes fluttered open and she moaned as the pain of her cracked rib caught her. Edward shuddered, as though he was physically feeling her pain himself, and Carlisle looked at him for a moment and then went to the door to greet Jacob.

“Hello Jacob,” he said calmly. “How are you?”

I glanced over at Emmett. Carlisle was never-endingly civil…why didn’t he just tell the dog to scat and get it over with?

“I heard Bella made it back alive,” Jacob’s voice was deep and rough, and I wrinkled my nose as the scent of him began to drift into the room from the front hall.

“Erm Jacob, it’s not really the best time,” Carlisle said apologetically. “Could we do this later?”

Bella looked at me with a frown. “Why not?” she said. “Are we keeping secrets from Jacob, too? What’s the point?”

 _The point is, he’s not one of us,_ I thought. _The point is, he’s a werewolf who came here intending to kill us all…_

But I didn’t say it, and Bella smiled weakly and called out, “Come in, please Jacob.”

“Excuse me,” I heard Jacob mutter, and then the next minute there he was in the door, looking shockingly healthy and _human_ as he stared around him. His eyes scanned everyone, resting for a long moment on Edward before he saw Bella and he stiffened in shock.

Bella looked back at him, trying to smile, but I saw the tell-tale twitch of her throat and as her eyes looked pleadingly at me I snatched up the basin and held it for her as she was sick again. Edward moaned and went down on his knees beside Bella and I waved a hand at him irritably.

_Drama queen! You’re not helping her when you act like every time she’s sick or the baby hurts her she’s stabbing you with knives!_

Edward’s face dropped against Bella’s knee and she stroked his cheek lovingly. I rolled my eyes and then caught the movement as Jacob stepped towards Bella. I turned and hissed at him warningly.

“Rose, don’t,” Bella whispered. “It’s fine.”

Reluctantly, I stepped back towards Bella, automatically taking up a defensive position at her head. Wasn’t it enough fighting Edward for her? Now I had to put up with a freaking werewolf as well?

“Bella, what’s wrong? Are you all right?” Jacob, down on his knees beside Edward, ignored all of us as he took Bella’s hand in his.

“I’m so glad you came to see me today, Jacob,” she said weakly.

“What is it, Bella?” Jacob insisted, his voice intent. I could hear the trace of terror than underlay his words.

Bella turned to me. “Help me up, Rose?” she requested.

The last thing I wanted was to show hot headed, irrational and _dangerous_ Jacob Black just how vulnerable Bella was now, how vulnerable we all were, but silently I leaned over so that Bella could put her arm around my neck and I could help her off the sofa. Her bony arm over my shoulder felt as fragile and insubstantial as a bird.

“Don’t get up,” Jacob said uneasily, obviously taking in how weak she was.

“I’m answering your question!” she snapped, pushing herself to stand upright and letting the blanket fall so that we could all see her body, the swollen bump of the pregnancy bulging out under Jasper’s sweater. Bella looked down at herself, and her hands tenderly cradled her belly as she showed Jacob just what was ‘wrong’ with her now.


	11. Complications

Jacob wordlessly took in the sight of Bella’s swollen belly, and his mind saw the truth of the situation. I was watching his face, saw the horror and revulsion that crossed it, and the flame of rage that burned in his dark eyes as he looked from Bella towards Edward. Edward, showing more animation than I had seen from him in days, rose to his feet and towered over Jacob, glaring at him with flat, black eyes.

“Outside, Jacob,” he snarled.

Jacob rose fluidly to his feet and faced Edward. “Let’s do this,” he said flatly.

I felt, rather than heard, the menacing growl that rumbled through Emmett as he stood beside Edward. At the same time Jasper came up behind him, and the three of them faced down the wolf.

“No,” Bella gasped. She stumbled towards Edward and I moved with her, supporting her weight so she wouldn’t fall as she clutched at his arm.

“I just need to talk to him, Bella,” Edward said softly. He stroked Bella’s face lovingly, and for a moment I thought Jacob Black would tear in to him right there in the living room. But he flared his nostrils and set his jaw and did nothing as Edward and Bella stared into each other’s eyes. “Don’t strain yourself. Please rest. We’ll both be back in just a few minutes.”

Reluctantly Bella let me lower her carefully onto the cushion, wincing as her sore rib moved and the baby kicked against her bruised skin. “Behave,” she whispered to Jacob, her voice as stern as she could make it. “And then come back.”

Almost imperceptibly Edward shook his head as Jasper and Emmett made to follow him, and they grudgingly dropped back, standing in the window with their arms folded and staring out.

“Damn,” Emmett muttered. “They’ve gone so far I can’t hear them.”

Bella gagged and threw up into the basin again. Esme whisked the bowl away and I brushed Bella’s hair away from her sweaty face and tucked the blanket more comfortably around her. “Don’t get upset,” I said to her quietly. “You know it makes you worse. Edward isn’t going to do anything stupid.” _I hope. Although I can’t say the same about your dog._ “What are they doing?” I asked Emmett.

He shrugged, not taking his eyes off the distant pair. “Talking… oh shit. They’re shaking hands?” He looked back at the rest of the family, bewildered and slightly suspicious. “Don’t know if that’s a good thing, but they’re coming back.”

Edward’s face was expressionless as he re-entered the room. Jacob was on his heels, but he hesitated in the doorway, looking at the rest of us gathered around Bella. “We’re going to let Jacob and Bella speak privately,” Edward said tonelessly.

“Over my pile of ashes,” I hissed. Jacob Black was like Edward- he had proved before that he would do anything to keep Bella human and his.

Edward ignored me, speaking directly to Bella. “Jacob wants to talk to you. Are you afraid to be alone with him?”

Bella looked confused for a moment, and then looked at me with determination. “Rose, it’s fine. Jake’s not going to hurt us. Go with Edward.”

How could she be so trusting? Edward had said he would do anything…what made Bella think he wouldn’t use Jacob Black to further his ends if it meant keeping Bella alive? “It might be a trick,” I said cautiously, wanting her to think.

She shook her head. “I don’t see how.”

“Carlisle and I will always be in your sight, Rosalie,” Edward said, anger cracking through the emotionlessness voice. “We’re the ones she’s afraid of.”

Bella’s eyes filled with tears. “No Edward, I’m not…”

Edward tried to smile. “I didn’t mean it that way Bella. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” He looked at the rest of us. “Everyone…please.” He motioned towards the door and the others moved out. I paused in the middle of the room, glancing from Edward in the doorway back to where Bella sat on the sofa, clutching the blanket with Jacob looking down on her.

“Rose,” Bella said softly. “I want you to go.”

Fine then. I gestured for Edward to go ahead of me. Not even for Bella’s sake this time…he was so angry with me there was no way I was turning my back to him.   

“If he hurts her…” I snarled to Edward’s back, and then pressed my lips together as Emmett caught my eye and shook his head.

We circled the house and went back inside through the kitchen, taking up much the same positions as we had been in earlier. It was not my intention to listen, I don’t think any of us meant that, but I wasn’t the only one who felt uneasy about Bella being alone in Jacob’s company. So we went into the kitchen, and we heard Bella and Jacob talking about Edward’s offer…

“You would give her to _him?”_ I hissed, appalled. “You think she would kill this baby, _your_ baby, and replace him with _Jacob Black’s_ baby?”

The look Edward gave me was glacial. “I will do anything to ensure that Bella lives,” he said dispassionately. “Anything at all…even that.”

“You disgust me,” I said coldly, and my words seemed to echo in the silent room. “Instead of spending so much time trying to find a way to bend her will to yours, why don’t you spend some time trying to understand her?”

No one moved after that until we heard the slam of the front door and the scent of wolf lessened slightly, and then I turned on my heel and went back to Bella. She was crying, but in a lethargic, dejected way…she didn’t even have the strength for sobbing.

Moved by an unfamiliar feeling of pity I crouched down by her head, taking up a tissue and gently wiping her eyes, which met mine hopelessly. “Why do I hurt them so much?” she whispered brokenly. “All the people I love- Edward, Jacob, my dad…all I’ve done is hurt them. And for what? I know I’m dying Rosalie, I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this, and then…” She closed her eyes.

_Oh Bella. You should never have known anything about this world. It should have just been you and Jacob and no complications…not this._

“You’re not going to die,” I said, low and steady. “You’re strong Bella, you know that- look at how well you’ve done so far, and it’s got to only just be a little longer. You can do that!”

“You’ll take care of him for me, won’t you?” Bella’s eyes opened and burned into mine with hypnotic fervour. “My baby…you’ll make sure he’s okay. You’ll love him for me…you’ll be everything I can’t be for him.”

For a moment I _saw_ it, a glittering vision of possibility, all that I’d ever wanted…Emmett and I and the baby, Bella’s baby- but she was dead and he was _mine…_ the monster within me roared in victory and god help me, but I wanted it to be true… _everything I have ever wanted, almost within reach…_

I pushed it all away, shut my heart to the very idea of it and shook my head at her. “ _NO!”_ I snarled, and for the first time since she’d run into my arms at the airport Bella cringed away from me. I swallowed hard and fought to control myself.

“Don’t talk like that,” I said at last, and my voice was smooth and gentle and under my golden gaze and honeyed voice Bella relaxed. “You don’t need to. You’re strong and this is going to work Bella- you’ll get your baby and the venom will take care of the rest. Keep your heart beating, that’s all…it worked for the rest of us and it will work for you too.”

Bella sighed, and nodded. “Right,” she said, almost inaudibly. “Keep my heart beating…I can do that.” She shivered. “I’m so cold Rose.”

“I’ll turn up the heat,” I said, rising to my feet and going to the control panel discreetly located on the wall. “Or would you like a hot bath? Although- well, my tub is temporarily out of order…we might have to use Alice’s bathroom.”

I don’t know if it was the stress of Jacob’s visit or just a coincidence, but Bella’s condition deteriorated badly over the next several hours. We kept the iv dripping steadily into her veins as she drifted in and out of consciousness, and Carlisle began listening to her heart with increasing frequency and solemnity.

“I want her on a heart monitor,” he said, early in the evening. He looked from Edward to me and back again. “We’re reaching a critical point here- I want to bring down the hospital bed and equipment and be ready to act on a moment’s notice.” He gently stroked Bella’s white cheek. “Bella? Bella? Can you listen to me for a moment?”

Bella opened bleary eyes and mumbled something.

Carlisle spoke to her gently. “Bella, you’re not doing well. I want you to consider allowing us to deliver the baby now- I’m not sure how much longer your body can hold out. Because you’re not able to eat your body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs, and your organs are all under incredible stress.”

Bella’s fingers fluttered feebly until I gave her my hand, and then her delicate fingers closed around mine. “Too soon,” she rasped. “He’s not ready.”

Edward made a muffled noise of agony. “Bella…” he breathed.

Bella’s eyes met mine, and I nodded at her reassuringly before I turned to Carlisle. “We’ll let you put the monitors on,” I said quietly. “We’ll let you bring the hospital bed down and have everything set up ready for an emergency. She’s got the iv in and anaesthesia can be administered in seconds if it comes to that, but we’re not delivering the baby yet. Bella wants to wait.” I met his eyes and he read the challenge there as I said slowly, “We’re trusting you not to do anything against Bella’s wishes…Edward too.”

Carlisle took a deep breath, but said nothing further to me as he gave some terse directions to the others. Moments later the living room furniture was shoved out of the way and the room itself took on the air of a hospital, the railed bed in the middle of the space, other medical equipment laid out ready on the table.

I lifted Bella solicitously from the sofa and laid her on the bed, watching carefully for signs of pain. She winced as I settled her onto the air mattress, but then sighed and relaxed. “Okay?” I asked her.

Bella looked uneasily at the monitors as Carlisle wheeled them over. “Is this really necessary?” She curved her hand protectively over her belly, and then exhaled noisily as the baby kicked. I could see the movement of the baby thrusting up against the sweatshirt, and I winced in sympathy. That would have hurt.

“It’s really just a precaution,” I said to her. “It will keep a record, and give us early warning if things start to get worse.”

I sounded confident but inside I felt sick. Carlisle was right to be concerned- nothing we had done had seemed to make the slightest bit of difference. The baby’s growing strength was painful but not, at this point, life threatening. The problem was that Bella’s body was rejecting every form of nutrition we had tried. She could keep down no food and even the nutrients dripping steadily directly into her bloodstream seemed to be having no affect. She was starving to death before our eyes.

I attached the monitors to her chest, which felt little more than skeletal now, plugging in the leads and replacing the bag on her iv. Bella watched me with dull eyes, and I briefly touched her hand. “You’re sure?” I said in a low voice. “We can deliver the baby any time and I’ll do what I can for him.” Not that that would be much. Without medical equipment designed and sized for neonates there would be very little I could do for a dangerously premature infant in crisis.

Bella squeezed my hand. “Not yet Rose. He needs more time.” Her hand on her belly moved as the baby moved inside her, and her eyes drifted closed again. “More time…” she mumbled.

More time…would we have more time? Would we have _enough_ time? Bella’s stomach looked enormous, but in reality it was her extreme thinness that made her look so completely out of proportion. Her uterus, and therefore the baby, was not yet at a size approximate to that of a full term human pregnancy.

There was little movement in the living room after that. While Bella slept Edward stood at the bedside, never taking his eyes off her still, pale, face. I sat on the sofa, watching the heart monitor and listening to Bella’s laboured breathing. Emmett lay with his head in my lap, staring up at the ceiling, as I combed my fingers rhythmically through his curly hair. Alice sat on the floor, leaning against Jasper’s legs as he sat in the armchair.

“Rose,” Carlisle said quietly, appearing at my shoulder. “Esme and I are going to go out on a very quick hunting trip.” He glanced uneasily at the motionless figure in the hospital bed. “Bella seems stable for the moment, and I think it would be wise for me to take care of my own needs now so that I needn’t leave her again. We won’t be long, and I’ll keep my phone with me in case you should need me.”

Edward didn’t move as Carlisle and Esme spoke to him briefly and then left the house, vanishing into the dark forest outside. He simply stood and stared at Bella as time ticked by, and I thought I had never seen him look so wretched.

Then, without warning, it all changed.

I heard nothing, but Edward’s whole aspect changed as his head raised and every muscle in his body went taut. In one movement Emmett was off my lap and on his feet by Edward, all his senses alert, Jasper joining them in a blur of speed.

“What is it?” I whispered, still mindful of Bella sleeping in between us.

Edward’s face was blank, but his eyes were burning. “Jacob Black,” he said flatly. “He’s on his way here…it seems the wolves are not finished with us yet.” 


	12. Jeopardy and Hope

My eyes went instinctively to Emmett, who winked at me as a smile curved across his face. “There’s gonna be some action then?”

Edward frowned and made a move to step out the front door. “I’m not sure Emmett. I need to hear what Jacob has to tell me- it’s sounding a little complicated.”

The three boys disappeared out the front door and I stepped swiftly across to the window so that I could see them, standing motionless on the porch as they waited for Jacob to break from the dark surrounding forest.

“Stupid mutts,” I said over my shoulder to Alice. “I wish we’d never got involved with them in the first place.”

“We didn’t have much choice, as I recall,” Alice said wryly. She came and stood by my side, looking out into the night with large, unhappy eyes. “I hate not seeing,” she said plaintively. “I know you think I’m being a big baby, but it’s horrible Rose…I feel so blind and so useless! I can’t see Bella or the…what she’s carrying, and all our futures hinge on that right now.” For a moment she rested her head against my arm. “The future is changing with every minute that passes and the visions are nothing but flickers and gaps and it’s all giving me such a headache.”

She sighed mournfully as Jacob emerged from the tree line, a smaller wolf at his heels and then she leaned forward, peering intently. “Is that Seth with Jacob? This is very strange Rosalie, he was here only a few hours ago and things were fine.” We watched Edward talk with the wolf, and then Alice huffed impatiently. “I’m going to find out what’s going on,” she said, gliding outside.

Behind me Bella tossed restlessly, moaning. I went to her and gently wiped her face, moistening her lips with the sponge. Tears dribbled down her cheeks even as she slept, and her cracked lips moved as she whispered Edward’s name. I saw a ripple across her belly as the baby moved and although she didn’t wake Bella gave a low, pained whine. For a moment I rested my hand on the bulge of her belly, feeling the hard shape of the baby within.

“Hey you in there,” I whispered. “Hold still…your mama isn’t doing so well right now.” Oh, the words hurt to say! _Your mama…_ and it wasn’t me. Would never be me, even though I knew without doubt that I would do anything, even suffer the way Bellla was, if I could have the chance for that baby to be mine. “Just try and sleep in there and let your mama rest. She needs that.” Below my hand there was a softer flutter of movement and then the baby was still.

There was movement at the door and the other four crowded inside. I could feel the tension, the jittery energy that radiated from them, so different from the despair of earlier.

“What’s happening?” I asked, mindful to keep my voice soft.

“The wolves are coming,” Emmett said, coming to my side and pressing against me for a brief minute, inhaling the scent of my hair. “They’re coming for Bella- well they want to kill the baby and she’ll just be collateral damage.”

I hissed furiously. “Over my dead body.”

“Not just yours,” Emmett said. He sounded almost cheerful- he was such a person of action that the forced inertia of the past days was torturous for him. He bounded across to the window and peered out into the dark.

“I don’t understand though,” I said slowly. “Why did Jacob warn us?”

“He’s left the pack,” Edward said, and it was only that I knew him so well that I heard the thread of agony in his steady voice. “For Bella…he would kill what’s she carrying without pause, but he cannot see her hurt. He’s gone against Sam, against the pack, against all that the Quileutes have stood for all this time, and he’s doing it for Bella. So she won’t die.”

“We don’t have time for your navel gazing tonight Edward,” Emmett said practically. “Let’s just be glad that the kid had an attack of conscience and came and warned us.” He glanced at his watch. “I called Carlisle and Esme, they’ll be back in fifteen minutes…let’s get organised.”

There was a screech of metal and then the rolling shutters that Carlisle had had installed at Jasper’s insistence came down to cover the glass wall. “And you all said I was paranoid…” Jasper murmured with a pointed look in my direction. “We need to make our position defensible. Rosalie- you and Edward move Bella out of the way of the free windows. Alice my darlin’, run upstairs and check those windows are closed. Emmett- garage.”

“Where did Jacob go?” I asked Edward quietly, as he and I moved the hospital bed and monitoring equipment further away from the windows.

“He and Seth are running perimeter,” Edward told me, staring blankly at Bella. “Keeping a watch- I can’t hear his thoughts now, so listen out for a howl.”

There was a flurry of movement and noise and Carlisle and Esme came in, Carlisle walking immediately over to Edward and I. “Bella?” Carlisle asked me tensely.

“No change,” I answered.

“We saw Seth out in the forest,” Carlisle said quietly. “He phased and told us what’s happened. I can’t believe…” His words drifted off and he passed a hand wearily across his face. “He seems to think that Sam will not bring the pack over tonight, not without Jacob.”

“We can’t afford to be complacent,” Edward said in a hard voice. “Not…”

He stopped, as the air around us echoed with the howls of a wolf. Jasper snarled and Emmett came streaking in from the other room, his eyes glittering and fierce. “They’re here?”

“No…wait…” Edward listened, concentrating hard. “It was a false alarm. Seth was upset about something else, and he forgot we were listening for a signal. He’s very young.”

“Nice to have toddlers guarding the fort,” Emmett commented in disgust.

“They’re done us a great service tonight, Emmett,” Carlisle cautioned him. “At great personal sacrifice.”

“Yeah, I know,” Emmett sighed, shrugging. “I’m just jealous. Wish I was out there.” He bounced on his toes and shadow boxed at Jasper for a moment, and had our position not been so serious I would have smiled. It was all such a game to him…he was disappointed that common sense dictated that he stay inside rather than going outside to play.

“Seth doesn’t think Sam will attack now,” Edward said tonelessly. “Not with us forewarned, and lacking two members of the pack.”

“What does Jacob think?” Carlisle wanted to know.

“He’s not as optimistic.”

Carlisle frowned as he read the printouts from the heart monitor, and his hand went towards to Bella.

“Don’t touch her! You’ll wake her up,” I whispered. The baby seemed to be keeping still and that was allowing Bella some real, deep sleep…I didn’t want anything to spoil that.

Carlisle sighed. “Rosalie…”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t start with me Carlisle. We let you have your way earlier, but that’s all we’re allowing.” _You too Edward…don’t start with me. She’s coping okay, and we just have to wait._

Even as we watched though, Bella gagged and choked a little in her sleep and automatically both Edward and I moved towards her. Her body shuddered and she whimpered, and I stroked a cool hand across her forehead, smoothing her limp hair away from her forehead. I looked up to see Edward glaring at me with such complete and utter hatred that I instinctively braced myself for an attack. Despite everything we were facing it would not have surprised me if he had thrown himself at me across Bella’s body and torn me apart right then.

I was not the only one to see the look. Emmett pushed me unceremoniously behind him as he held up a placating hand to Edward. “Not tonight Edward,” he said calmly. “We’ve got other things to worry about.”

  Edward turned away, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever forgive me for what I was doing here. I truly believed that I couldn’t do other than what I was doing for Bella, but there was an unrelenting ache of grief in my heart at the knowledge of what this schism was doing to our family.

Emmett folded me into his arms and for a minute I relaxed, feeling the warm, solid strength of him against me. At least I had him, with his big heart and loving kindness and everlasting devotion, even in the face of all my tempers and prickliness and issues!

Sam and the pack didn’t attack that night. Jacob and Seth continued to run patrol in a wide looping arc around the border of our property, and Emmett fretted and paced the living room because he couldn’t be out there with them. I stood guard over Bella, listening to her laboured breathing and the beat of her heart, alert for even the slightest change. Carlisle was right that we were approaching a critical point- she couldn’t keep going like this.

She slept most of the night, waking early the next morning. I carried her into the bathroom and helped her there, and then she lay in the bed as Edward sat beside her holding her hand. They didn’t talk, and as I looked at Edward’s set face and dead eyes I realised with a pang that he had given up hope.

_Don’t look at her like she’s already dead! She’s trying so hard Edward…give her a little credit. She can still get through this!_

He made no sign that he’d heard me, but moments later he at least relaxed his face enough to smile. I looked away.

Emmett, Alice and Jasper were talking together upstairs. Esme was humming tunelessly, and I could hear Carlisle sitting on the porch with Jacob, both of them talking in low voices, although I didn’t bother listening. I was too busy trying to calculate the baby’s current growth rate and how many more days gestation it might need, versus how many days Bella could possibly keep going. It didn’t matter what I did or how I calculated…I couldn’t make the numbers match up.

“I’ll be right back Bella. I want to speak with Carlisle for a moment. Actually Rosalie, would you mind accompanying me?” Edward’s voice sounded different as he spoke into the silence.

“What is it, Edward?” Bella asked, and I waited suspiciously for his answer.

“Nothing you need worry about, love,” he said gently. “It will just take a second. Please, Rose?”

 _You’re saying please to me now? Must be something important…_ “Esme? Can you mind Bella for me?” I called.

“Of course.” Esme flitted into the room and smiled, standing beside Bella and smoothing her hair with one of her instinctive motherly gestures.

Warily I followed Edward out onto the porch, keeping a safe distance between the two of us. I didn’t trust him an inch at the moment, and with Jacob on his side…I wished Emmett was with me.

“Carlisle,” Edward said quietly, closing the door behind him. “Perhaps we’ve been going about this the wrong way. I was listening to you and Jacob just now, and when you were speaking of the what the…foetus wants, Jacob had an interesting thought. We haven’t actually addressed _that_ angle. We’ve been trying to get Bella what she needs, and her body is accepting it about as well as one of ours would. Perhaps we need to address the needs of the…foetus first. Maybe if we can satisfy it, we’ll be able to help her more effectively.”

“I’m not following you Edward,” Carlisle said.

“Think about it Carlisle. If that creature is more vampire than human, can’t you guess what it craves- what it’s not getting? Jacob did.”

“Oh!” Carlisle sounded surprised, and then thoughtful. “You think it’s…thirsty?”

 _Ohhh._ I hissed under my breath. “Of course!” I knew all too well what it felt like to be thirsty, to have only one thing in the world that would satisfy that desperate craving… “Carlisle we have all that type O negative laid aside for Bella,” I said, trying to contain my excitement at the fact that we just _might_ have something that we could do. Something that might work… “It’s a good idea,” I added, not being able to bring myself to look at the source of this good idea.

“Hmm. I wonder…” Carlisle frowned reflectively. “And then, what would be the best way to administer…”

I shook my head. “We don’t have time to be creative. I’d say we should start with the traditional way.”

Jacob looked revolted. “Wait a minute. Just hold on...are you- are you talking about making Bella drink _blood?”_

 _I’m sorry if that offends your delicate sensibilities, you stupid mutt, but what the hell do you think we all do to get by?_ “It was your idea, dog,” I scowled.

Jacob glared at me. “That’s just…”

“Monstrous?” Edward suggested. “Repulsive?”

_Oh, you’re so helpful Edward!_

“Pretty much.”

“But what if it helps her?” Edward whispered, and I saw the small spark of hope in his eyes.

“What are you gonna do, shove a tube down her throat?” Jacob asked aggressively.

“I plan to ask her what she thinks,” Edward said loftily. “I just wanted to run it past Carlisle first.”

“If you tell her it might help the baby, she’ll be willing to do anything,” I said practically. “Even if we _do_ have to feed them through a tube.” I looked irritably from one of the men to the next as they seemed to gaze around with hopeless indecision. “Well, we don’t have time to sit around discussing this. What do you think, Carlisle? Can we try?”

Carlisle took a deep breath. “We’ll ask Bella.”

I couldn’t stop my smile. Bella would say yes- she would say yes to anything that might help the baby. And really, could she be THAT revolted by the idea? For over a year she’d been pushing to become one of us, knowing all along what that would entail. Drinking blood...she was willing to do if for immortality, so wouldn’t she be willing to do it now?

 


	13. Lifeblood

Jacob followed us into the house where Bella watched the four of us approach with exhausted, suspicious eyes. “What’s going on?” she rasped. Her eyes met mine and I gave a slight nod of reassurance.

“Jacob had an idea that might help you,” Carlisle said. “It won’t be…pleasant, but-“

“But it will help the baby,” I interrupted. The more they told Bella how disgusting it would be, the more self-conscious she’d be about trying it. “We’ve thought of a better way to feed him. Maybe.”

“Not pleasant?” Bella said with a weak chuckle. “Gosh, that’ll be such a change.” She rolled her eyes at the iv line taped in her arm, and I laughed with her.

Edward stepped around me and approached Bella, his expression intense. He took her free hand and looked at her with tormented eyes. “Bella love, we’re going to ask you to do something monstrous,” he said sadly. “Repulsive.”

I rolled my eyes. _God, can you BE any more of a drama queen Edward? It’s not like we’re telling her she has to slaughter infants and drink the blood of innocents right from the source!_

Bella looked alarmed. “How bad?”

“We think the foetus might have an appetite closer to ours than to yours,” Carlisle took over the explanation. “We think it’s thirsty.”

Bella blinked. “Oh… _oh.”_

“Your condition- both of your conditions- are deteriorating rapidly. We don’t have time to waste, to come up with more palatable ways to do this. The fastest way to test the theory-“

“I’ve got to drink it,” Bella said blankly. Then she nodded, and went on with more determination. “Okay, I can do that. Practice for the future, right?” She grinned at Edward who didn’t return the smile. “So, who’s going to go catch me a grizzly bear?”

There was a long pause, before Bella said, “What?”

“It will be a more effective test if we don’t cut corners Bella,” Carlisle said softly.

“If the foetus is craving blood it’s not craving animal blood,” Edward explained.

“It won’t make a difference to you, Bella,” I said encouragingly. “Don’t think about it.” Human or animal blood…her human tongue wouldn’t know enough to differentiate.

Bella’s eyes widened. “Who?” she breathed, her eyes going to Jacob and I fought back my desire to laugh at the expression on his face.

“I’m not here as a donor Bells!” he muttered. “’Sides, it’s human blood that thing’s after, and I don’t think mine applies-“

“We have blood on hand,” I told Bella. “For you- just in case. Don’t worry about anything at all. It’s going to be fine. I have a good feeling about this Bella. I think the baby will be so much better.”

Bella’s eyes flared with hope and she ran her hand gently across her belly. “Well, _I’m_ starving, so I’ll bet he is too. Let’s go for it. My first vampire act.”

Carlisle and I flew upstairs to the room he’d stocked with his medical equipment, including a fridge that was now stocked with bags of blood. Carlisle paused with one in his hand. “Heat it up?” he asked uncertainly.

I made a face. “Cold blood? Disgusting…but then again, it’s for Bella. It might be easier for her to drink if it’s cold.”

I bolted downstairs for a glass, hearing Edward’s snide, “Not _clear_ Rosalie,” from the living room as I opened the cupboard. I scowled, but he was right- she wasn’t used to this, and it might seem more palatable if she didn’t have to look at it. I went back upstairs and asked Carlisle if he had anything better.

Digging through a box of miscellaneous patient supplies for an opaque plastic cup, I listened to Bella talking weakly to Jacob and Edward downstairs. She sounded a little brighter, and I hoped desperately that this blood drinking idea would work. I couldn’t help my inner curl of disgust that it was that bloody werewolf Jacob Black that had cheered her up though- would we never be free of his stinking presence?

The dislike was mutual though. I heard him telling Bella that Leah Clearwater had also left Sam’s pack and was now patrolling outside with Seth, and I raised my eyebrows at that. Leah Clearwater? She would set fire to us as soon as look at us, and now we were relying on her protection? Bella expressed her own doubts, and then I heard Jacob say clearly, “You’re scared of _Leah_ , but you’re best friends with the psychopath blonde?”

I couldn’t suppress a hiss of outrage. _Damn stupid mutt!_

“Don’t,” Bella said, and there was that thread of steel underlying her cracked and rasping voice. “Rose…understands.”

For a brief moment as I heard her tone, I froze. Bella was _defending_ me. Bella Swan was coming to my defence against her friend Jacob…something that Edward never bothered to do, I couldn’t help noting bitterly. But Bella had, and once again I felt myself soften towards this girl I had once resented so fiercely. Somehow this had become about more than upholding her right to a choice…somewhere along the line Bella had crept her way into my heart and now it was all about so much more than any abstract idea. It was about a friend- a sister- and suddenly I realised how much I had to lose now.

When I’d finally found the plastic cup with the straw Carlisle carefully filled it with blood, not wanting to spill a drop. The smell of it, even cold, called to me seductively, and I had to fight to suppress a low whine of desire. My eyes met Carlisle’s and I could tell he was feeling it too. “We’d better keep Jasper away from this,” I said quietly. “Probably Emmett too.”

Carlisle nodded soberly and the two of us descended the stairs and went over to where Bella was still curled up on the bed, looking at the innocent white plastic cup apprehensively.

“We could try another method,” Carlisle said gently.

“No,” Bella whispered, struggling to sit up and reach for the cup. “No, I’ll try this first. We don’t have time…” Her hand shook as she took the cup and I moved swiftly to her side, gently supporting her shoulders and head, almost as though she was a baby herself.

“Thanks,” she whispered, looking abashedly round at Edward and Jacob.

“Don’t mind them,” I said softly. I wished they would stop acting as though Bella was about to kill and drink the blood of a newborn! This was donated blood Carlisle had bought for Bella- what was the difference if she drank it through her mouth or let it drip into her veins via the iv?

Bella sniffed warily at the cup and then flinched, and Edward jerked forward. “Bella sweetheart, we can find an easier way,” he said gently.

“Plug your nose?” I suggested.

“No, that’s not it. It’s just that it…it smells good,” Bella admitted in a tiny, embarrassed voice.

“That’s a good thing!” I said brightly. “That means we’re on the right track. Give it a try.”

Bella lifted the straw to her lips and drank. For a moment the only sound was the sloshing of the liquid in the cup, and then Bella gave a low moan, her eyes closed. Edward and Jacob both leaned towards her, their faces pained, but I stood stock still, the flicker of hope I’d been feeling flaring bright and hot inside because I _knew_ that sound. That moan…it wasn’t disgust. Not even close. It was a moan of satisfaction, of want, of desire… _oh yes._

“Bella, love-,“ Edward murmured.

“I’m okay.” She opened her eyes and looked up apologetically. “It _tastes_ good too.” Her eyes sought mine, and I gave her a happy smile.

“That’s good,” I said to her encouragingly. “A good sign.”

She nodded and drank again. Stronger this time, more determined and taking bigger swallows as we watched her.

“How’s your stomach? Do you feel nauseated?” Carlisle asked.

Bella shook her head looking almost surprised. “No. I don’t feel sick. That’s a first, eh?”

Remembering my BMW and the innumerable basins of vomit I’d caught over the past few days I couldn’t suppress my smile. “Excellent.”

“I think it’s a bit early for that, Rose,” Carlisle said warningly, and I shook my head impatiently. This was the only positive sign we’d had in days- even if it was premature, even if it was short lived, I was going to enjoy it.

Bella took in more and looked at Edward with a slightly raised eyebrow. “Does this screw my total?” she asked weakly. “Or do we start counting _after_ I’m a vampire?”

“No one is counting, Bella. In any case, no one died for this- your record is still clean.” Edward watched her drink, his face looking lifeless.

“I did it,” Bella said in some surprise as she slurped up the last drops. She looked up at Carlisle with a smile. “If I keep this down, will you take the needles out of me?” She looked with dislike at the iv port taped into her arm.

“As soon as possible,” he promised. “Honestly, they aren’t doing that much good where they are.”

Bella grinned at me, and I brushed a hand across her forehead and smiled eagerly back. It was hard to believe, but she was already looking better. A slight colour in her face, a spark of life in her eyes that had almost completely dimmed come back again… _please let this be it. For Bella, for the baby…please let this work._ “Would you like more?” I asked.

In my arms Bella slumped and Edward glared at me furiously, blaming me for upsetting her. “You don’t have to drink more right away,” he said to her, his soothing voice in sharp contrast to the eyes shooting daggers my way.

“Yeah, I know,” Bella mumbled. “But…I _want_ to.”

I combed my fingers gently through her hair. Lank and lifeless it was in desperate need of a wash, and I wondered if Emmett was any closer to finishing off the repairs to our bathroom. “You don’t need to be embarrassed about that, Bella,” I said, striving to make my voice sound matter of fact. “Your body has cravings. We all understand that.” I shot an icy glare at Edward and Jacob, who had done little to conceal his disgust. “Anyone who doesn’t understand shouldn’t be here.”

Carlisle took the cup and headed for the stairs. “I’ll be right back.”

Jacob was almost swaying on his feet with exhaustion, and Bella smiled at him. “Get some rest, please,” she said softly. “There’s a few beds upstairs- you’re welcome to any of them.”

I felt my jaw stiffen. If that flea ridden fur bag put one mangy toe on my bed he’d find himself with missing limbs, Bella or no Bella. Edward’s shoulders moved almost imperceptibly and for the first time since he’d returned from his honeymoon his eyes met mine with a glimmer of humour.

“Thanks Bells, but I’d rather sleep on the ground. Away from the stench you know,” Jacob grinned wearily as Carlisle returned and handed the same plastic cup back to Bella.

She drank it thirstily, pulling herself up to a sitting position. I had my hands ready to steady her, but she didn’t need my help. The life giving blood was working its miracles and she was feeling stronger by the moment.

“How do you feel now?” Carlisle asked.

“Not sick,” Bella said immediately. “Sort of hungry…only I’m not sure if I’m hungry or _thirsty_ , you know?”

“Carlisle, just look at her!” I couldn’t keep back my pleasure as I watched the life come back to Bella. “This is obviously what her body wants. She should drink more.”

“She’s still human, Rosalie,” Carlisle said mildly. His own eyes were creased in a smile though as he looked at Bella sitting up and breathing easily. “She needs food, too. Let’s give her a little while to see how this affects her, and then maybe we can try some food again. Does anything sound particularly good to you, Bella?”

“Eggs,” she said immediately, and then she grinned at Edward who smiled back. A slightly brittle smile, but there was more animation in his face than there had been an hour previously.

“Jacob,” Edward said, “You really should sleep. As Bella said, you’re certainly welcome to the accommodations here-“ He gave me a slightly malicious smile. “-though you’d probably be more comfortable outside. Don’t worry about anything- I promise I’ll find you if there’s a need.”

“Sure, sure,” Jacob mumbled. His eyes were half closed as he fought to stay awake, touching Bella’s hand briefly with his. He shivered slightly and then smiled at her. “Feel better.” He turned back to the door, muttering, “Get her a blanket or something,” over his shoulder at us as he left.  

“Are you cold?” I asked Bella, who nodded a little reluctantly. “I’ll find you something warmer to wear,” I told her. “Edward, can you turn up the heat?”

As Edward went to the thermostat I sped upstairs and into Alice’s closet, digging through Jasper’s pile of sweaters for something warm. I also took a pair of ski socks and then grabbed a blanket from the upstairs hall. I was halfway down the stairs when I heard the wolves’ howls from out in the forest, and as I looked out the window I saw the air shimmer as Jacob phased into his wolf form and went racing across the grass and disappeared into the forest.

For a moment I wanted to throw up my hands and scream. Okay, so he’d had a good idea about Bella that was maybe going to make all the difference for her and the baby…but did that _have_ to come with all this drama? What did those goddamn stinking wolves want _now?_


	14. Growing Stronger, Growing More Onerous

“What now?” I demanded, flying into the living room and over to Bella. She was sitting up on the bed, her legs dangling off the side, and she smiled at me.

“Jake’s gone to see,” she said. “Now please, I feel ridiculous here with all this attached to me.” She jiggled one of the monitor leads impatiently. “I’m so much better already, I really don’t think I need it and I hate feeling like I’m in a hospital.”

Carlisle held up his hand in surrender. “Okay Bella, you win. I want to keep the iv going with some saline to make sure you’re fully rehydrated, but I’ll take off the monitors.”

“And I can sit over on the sofa?” Bella pressed, and then smiled in satisfaction as Carlisle nodded. “Rosalie, can you help me get down?”

I lifted her gently from the bed and carried her across the sofa. “I’m glad you’re feeling better,” I said sincerely. “You look so much healthier.”

Bella smiled as she settled herself awkwardly on the sofa. “It’s amazing how quickly it’s changed! Now I’m just freezing cold.”

“Oh, I bought some things,” I remembered, picking up the sweater and helping her into it. I pulled the ski socks over her feet and right up over her knees, which made her laugh.

“Does Alice know how you’re dressing me?” she joked.

I grinned. “No, and I don’t intend for her to find out, either!” I shook out the quilt and wrapped Bella up into a snuggly cocoon. “Now she’ll never know…I hope that helps. Edward’s turned the heat up, but it’s going to take a while to make much difference with this house being so big and open. Obviously heating isn’t generally one of our concerns.”

Bella wriggled her shoulders until she was comfortable in the quilt and then looked up at Edward. “Sit with me?” she asked tentatively.

He nodded a little absently, and sat down taking her wrapped feet into his lap. “Sam’s sent an envoy,” he said, a distant look in his face as he listened to something no one else could hear.

Carlisle and Esme had taken the hospital bed back upstairs, and they now appeared again, listening silently to Edward’s report. Jasper and Emmett came in too, although Alice sat halfway down the stairs, peeping through the stair rail.

“It’s Jared, Paul, Quil and Collin,” Edward said mechanically. “They want to talk…they’ve talked with the Elders and decided that there’s no need to act immediately. They’re waiting…oh. They’ll wait and see what happens when the…foetus is born.” He frowned briefly. “They want Jacob and the others to return home, but Jacob intends to see this out by our side, although that leaves him, Leah and Seth somewhat displaced.”

Esme made a small noise of concern. “I had thought of that Edward, that they can’t really be going home at the moment. I don’t like to think of them having to live rough out in the forest. No food, no showers, no fresh clothes…I want you to make sure he knows that all we have is at their disposal. Insist upon it- I know how proud he is and you need to phrase the offer in such a way that he’ll accept it, please.”

Edward nodded. “I’ll let him know. You might want to get some clothes right away- he ruined his shorts when he phased just now.”

“I think Emmett’s things might be the best fit,” Esme said. “Emmett, go and fetch a pair of trousers and a shirt for Jacob please. Now, Bella- can we get something for you? Food? More…are you thirsty?”

Bella bit her lip. “I’m a little thirsty.”

“I’ll go upstairs and get you some more,” Carlisle offered. “Jasper, perhaps you and Alice would like to open the metal shutters and let some light in, since we’re not under any imminent threat anymore. Emmett- the clothes please.”

I knew this was just his way of diplomatically telling Jasper to get out before the blood came in, but we all pretended otherwise. There was a brief flurry of movement as Emmett grumbled and headed up the stairs with Jasper and Alice and then sent some clothes flying down from upstairs, which Esme picked up and left in a neatly folded pile on the bottom step. I put on a movie and then sat down on the floor by Bella’s head.

She took the cup of blood in her hand, no longer needing any help as she drank it down with an unconscious noise of pleasure. I noticed Edward’s face spasm at the sound, but I was glad when Bella seemed unaware of it. As she drank the fingers of her free hand absently stroked my hair, and I was caught between the relaxing feeling her gentle touch and the searing burn in my throat caused by the tantalising smell from the cup in her hand.

Jacob appeared, looking faintly ridiculous in Emmett’s clothes and his eyes shadowed with exhaustion. “They just wanted to talk,” he mumbled. “No attack on the horizon.” He turned and stumbled back towards the door with Edward following him, presumably to pass along Esme’s offer of human needs and comfort.

“He means well,” Bella said to me, her affection for Jacob clear in her tone. “He just doesn’t know you all like I do, that’s all.”

“If you say so,” I muttered, still peeved that once again the wolves were becoming so inextricably part of our lives.

Bella giggled, and I felt my irritation lift with the sense of relief that was flowing through me at her improvement. “You two would probably get on well if you ever gave each other a chance,” she said teasingly. “Neither of you like to take crap, you’re both stubborn, and he would _love_ to get a look at what you’ve got out there in the garage.”

Before I could give voice to my sarcastic response Bella’s face went white and she bent over her rounded belly, clutching at it with a low cry of pain. I took her in my arms and held her tenderly as she whimpered and panted with pain. I felt the wind as Edward and Jacob appeared at her side.

“Just give me a second, Carlisle,” Bella panted.

“Bella, I heard something crack. I need to take a look,” Carlisle said seriously.

“Pretty sure it was a rib. Ow. Yep. Right here,” Bella grunted, pointing to her left side. Tears shone in her eyes, but none leaked out to run down her cheeks.

“I need to take an x-ray. There might be splinters. We don’t want it to puncture anything.”

Bella winced, but remembered our previous discussion on the safety and necessity of x-rays and nodded. “Okay.”

I lifted her gently in my arms, doing my best not to put any pressure on her tender ribcage. Edward gave me a savage look but I snarled at him silently and hissed, “I’ve already got her.”

Upstairs Bella winced as she straightened out for the x-ray which showed that she had indeed broken a rib. Her womb was still a great black balloon in her abdomen and I wondered all over again what it was hiding.

Edward’s hands were in fists as he looked at the x-ray and the shadows of the broken ribs. “Bella,” he said, his voice strained. “The blood is making you stronger, but it’s also making the…foetus stronger.”

“Why won’t you say it?” I hissed. “BABY, Edward…it’s a baby.”

He ignored me, although his lips tightened until they nearly disappeared. “Bella, you’ve done your best. No one is going to judge you if you decide that you need to put yourself first now and…”

“It’s just a rib,” I snapped. “She’s got twenty-three others.”

“And it’s already broken two of them,” Edward snarled at me. “What’s next? Her sternum? Her spine?”

Before he could make a move at me, Bella pushed herself to sit up, gasping as the pain caught her across her ribs. “I’m fine….I’m fine! Rose, do you think you could help me take a bath?” she asked quickly.

Throwing Edward a look of loathing I gently scooped Bella up. “Sure…we’ll see if Emmett’s finished retiling my bathroom.”

There were no shower screens, but the plumbing and tiling were all done, so I briskly ran the tub and then lowered Bella into the steaming water. “This feels so good…maybe I should just live in the tub until the baby is born,” she mused dreamily. “People have babies in water all the time.”

“Perhaps not vampire hybrid babies,” I said dryly. I watched as Bella’s stomach bulged and rippled with the movement of the baby within, and frowned as she gave an involuntary grunt of pain. How exactly _was_ this baby going to be born? “I think you’re looking more along the lines of a caesarean section Bella, rather than a natural water birth.”

From down below I heard a bizarre noise, and I wrinkled my nose. “What the…oh, wonderful. Your dog snores.”

Bella giggled. “You shouldn’t call him that though, Rose.”

“No.” I paused. “I heard you defend me to him earlier,” I said awkwardly. “I wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re my friend now Rose,” Bella said simply. “Jake’s got the wrong idea about you. I think a lot of people do.”

I turned my head and needlessly folded the towel that was sitting on the counter. _Friends…_ who would ever have thought of it?

“You’re sure about the baby?” I said, figuring I may as well get it all out while we were feeling confessional. “Please don’t misunderstand me…I absolutely think you can do this. When I say ‘it’s just a rib’ I don’t mean to minimise your pain- I know that it’s breaking your bones and I know that would hurt you, but that’s not life threatening in itself and you’re strong enough to cope, I truly believe that. But the blood that’s building you up is also increasing the baby’s strength and things are only going to get harder. At any time you can say enough is enough, and we’ll take the baby out and I’ll do what I can for him. Carlisle too,” I added, hoping I was right and that Carlisle would put his considerable skills towards saving Bella’s baby, whatever it turned out to be.

Bella nodded. “I know that, and to be honest with you Rose I have thought about it.” She stroked her hand across the slippery wet mountain of her belly, half submerged in the water, and her face was soft and tender with love. “But I can’t do it- not while he still needs to be in there. He’s not ready yet, and I’m not desperate yet either. We can wait a while longer, and take it day by day.”

I nodded. “That’s sensible.”

“Thank you for at least listening to me and respecting my choice.” For a moment Bella looked wistful. “I know Edward’s afraid and he doesn’t mean anything bad, but I wish he had more faith.” It was the closest I’d ever heard her come to criticising him.

The slamming of the bedroom door interrupted us, and knowing it would be Emmett I slipped out of the bathroom to see what he was doing. He was standing by the window with his arms crossed, staring out at the forest and scowling. His eyes, when he turned to look at me, were very dark.

“Hey,” I said, a little uncertainly. “What are you doing?”

Emmett jerked his head towards the bathroom. “Bella in there?” When I nodded he scowled even more and kicked the wall irritably.

“You think you need to do some plastering as well as tiling?” I asked him dryly. “Whatever’s got you so uptight, don’t take it out on the walls.”

Emmett glared at me. “Go away. You’re not helping.” He threw himself sulkily down on the bed, rolling away so that his back was too me.

A little surprised I jumped up beside him, leaning over his shoulder and kissing the side of his neck. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not kidding Rose- unless you’re going to whip those clothes off and ride me you’d better not touch me.”

“Fine then. Sorry I even bothered.” Offended, I made a move to slide off the bed, only to have Emmett groan and flip over on top of me, holding me flat underneath him.

“I’m sorry baby! But fuck this…I’m thirsty and Carlisle’s got a stick up his ass about the wolves out there so he doesn’t want any of us going out until he talks it through with Jacob.” He nuzzled hard into my neck, licking my earlobe and then biting it. “And I can’t get you away from Bella to have you to myself for five minutes. No hunting, no sex…Jesus baby, what’s life coming to?”

I laughed, I couldn’t help it, and looming over me Emmett growled menacing and bit my neck harder. He lowered his head and sucked at the hollow of my throat, and unconsciously I purred and pushed my hips up into him. “Do that again pretty girl and I’ll not be holding back, Bella or no Bella,” he muttered.

Bella…oh, right. I gathered my scattered thoughts and, somewhat reluctantly, pushed Emmett until he was lying his back beside me.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, looking half ashamed as he shoved a hand down his jeans and tried to make himself comfortable. “But I want you baby, every time I look at you…you know that. And you’re so busy with Bella that you’re not looking back.” He sighed mournfully. “And now I’m thirsty and I can’t hunt, and Edward’s so pissed off at me for taking your back on this that he won’t even talk to me, and it’s not as though I’m finding it all that _fun_ to watch Bella suffer. Not to mention that now the whole freaking house smells like a goddamn wet dog!” He half laughed and half groaned as he turned his face and hid it against my shoulder, and without hesitating I took his curly head in my arms and kissed his face.

“Emmett, it’s only going to be a little longer,” I said fervently, feeling a whole load of tension I hadn’t even realised I’d been feeling drain away with the touch of his body against mine and the scent of him filling my nose. “A little bit longer, that’s all…then I’ll be all yours again. Bella will be busy with her baby…” I couldn’t help choking a little. “And she and Edward will be so happy together he’ll forgive you anything.”

I knew that, however self-absorbed Emmett’s rant had sounded, it wasn’t exactly like that. Sex for Emmett had always been about loving me, about being with me in mind and body and spirit, and his unhappiness about days of abstinence was about a lot more than wanting to get off. As for Edward…oh, Emmett loved Edward probably more than he loved anyone other than me, and I knew how much Edward’s anger with him would be hurting him. _My dear beloved…I know how hard this is._ But once again, there was nothing to do but wait, and it was with a heavy heart that I left Emmett sprawled out on the bed alone when I went back into the bathroom to check on Bella.


	15. Blonde Jokes and Birth Talk

Jacob slept the rest of the day away, and then through the night. It was impossible to ignore him- as well as snoring like a hippopotamus he’d passed out right in the front door, which meant all the fresh air flowing in past him was tainted with the smell. If it hadn’t been for his idea to feed Bella blood that was responsible for her vast improvement I would have tossed him out on his ass without a second thought, as it was I grudgingly accepted that he seemed to be here to stay.

Although as it turned out our doors were open to all of the local strays. Around dawn there was a tentative knock and a soft call from the front door and Bella sat up on her sofa looking pleased.

“Seth! Come on in.”

I recognised him of course. He’d come to the wedding and even I had to admit that, apart from the smell which he really couldn’t help, there was nothing objectionable about Seth Clearwater. He was all eager puppy friendliness that was as endearing as it was baffling.

“I came to see what Jake was doing,” Seth said with an awkward grin at Bella. “He didn’t ever phase back yesterday, I figured he was just sleeping but Leah got on my case…”

“Well I’m glad you’re here,” Esme said brightly. “I’ve made you some breakfast. Cinnamon rolls? Omelettes? Bacon?”

Seth was practically salivating. “Yes please ma’am.”

Esme beamed. I remembered her cooking a lot in the Depression years when she was active in a lot of charity committees, but it obviously wasn’t something that she had much reason to do in our usual life. “If you’d be so kind Seth, I’ll put a plate together for Leah and you can take it out to her. Edward, if you wouldn’t mind whipping up a fresh omelette for Seth.” Esme bustled out to the kitchen and returned a moment later with two paper bags. “Here’s some breakfast for Leah,” she told Seth. “And this one has some clothes. If you’d like to change I can put what you’re wearing now through the wash for you. No arguments!”

“Yes ma’am,” Seth grinned and disappeared out into the forest. He was back quicker than I would have thought possible, looking much more respectable in some of Emmett’s clothes, and carrying his dirty things in one hand. Esme whisked them away to the laundry and in return handed Seth a plate piled high with food.

“Come sit next to me,” Bella said. “I’m freezing and you can warm me up, since Jacob’s got the door open and is letting all the heat out.” She was wrapped in the quilt and wearing the extra sweaters and ski socks, but she still sometimes shivered. I was sitting on the floor in front of her, where she’d been braiding my hair while we watched tv.

As Seth began digging in to his breakfast, Alice came skipping down the stairs with her face light. “He blocks it all out,” she said to me, dropping a butterfly light kiss on Bella’s forehead and then sitting down onto the floor near me. “I can relax with one of them sitting by my side…oh thank you Seth, my head feels so much better!” She grinned at Bella and then pouted at me. “It’s no fun being stuck upstairs while you and Bella get to play sleepover down here! Doing hair and watching movies…at least you had the grace not to start painting each other’s nails without me!”

“What are the boys doing?” I asked. Emmett and Jasper were staying upstairs, well away from Bella and the cup of blood she had in her hand almost constantly.

Alice sighed theatrically. “Doing some reading for Carlisle…the way they’re both feeling that’s not going to end well. Oh my goodness Rosalie, I never realised how obnoxious Emmett is without your civilising influence! If I have to listen to him whine once more about being thirsty and not getting any…let’s just say he won’t be in any fit state to have sex for quite some time if he doesn’t cut it out!”

Bella giggled, and Seth looked at me sitting on the ground near his feet and blushed scarlet. I stuck my tongue out at Alice. “Leave my man alone.”

“I wish he’d leave _me_ alone!” she exclaimed. “Jasper might not be able to go hunting, but there’s no reason that he and I couldn’t…do other entertaining things, apart from the fact that Emmett won’t go away!” Suddenly realising that not only Bella and I were listening to her, but that Seth was eating his breakfast with a fixed look that showed that he was _very_ aware of what she was saying and that Carlisle and Esme were also watching on with amusement, Alice giggled. “Never mind! You’re going to talk to Jacob about the hunting soon, right Carlisle?”

He nodded with a grin. “As soon as possible Alice. Last time I went upstairs Emmett bailed me up in the hallway and it took half an hour to get away from him. I know he needs to get outside!”

“You thought about just taking off?” Seth asked through a mouthful of cinnamon roll. “If you can get out past Sam to hunt, maybe you should all just keep on going?”

“We’ve considered it,” Edward answered him. “But Carlisle has the medical equipment we might need here, and is able to access more if necessary. We wouldn’t have that elsewhere.”

He didn’t mention the other factor- that as the baby grew and strengthened the damage he was inflicting on Bella was becoming increasingly concerning. A third rib had fractured now, and a serious internal bleed was becoming increasingly likely. We couldn’t risk moving her. Uneasy, I reached behind me and patted her leg, still cocooned in the quilt.

 Jacob’s snores faltered, breaking rhythm as he groaned and opened his eyes, stretching.

“About time,” I said pointedly. “The chainsaw impersonation was getting a little tired.”

Jacob seemed less than impressed to have Seth sitting so close to Bella. Jacob’s possessiveness over Bella annoyed me- I wondered that Edward was able to listen to his thoughts without killing him. After a few terse comments Jacob turned to leave, planning on hunting with Leah, but Carlisle called him back.

“Speaking of hunting,” he said seriously. “That’s going to be an issue for my family. I understand that our previous truce is inoperable at the moment, so I wanted your advice. Will Sam be hunting for us outside the perimeter you’ve created? We don’t’ want to take a chance with hurting any of your family- or losing any of ours. If you were in our shoes, how would you proceed?”

They fell to discussing hunting, but I only half listened. I wasn’t going to leave Bella, not now. I could feel her fingers in my hair, twisting the strands together and I sighed, wishing briefly that it was Emmett. I missed him, I missed the easy familiarity of life before Bella and her baby had become the centre of the world.

It couldn’t last much longer. When Carlisle measured her belly again her fundal height had grown to thirty centimetres, a growth rate of two centimetres or a little more each day. That meant we were looking at maybe five more days, maybe less…I crossed my fingers.

When I carried Bella back to the couch from the bathroom later that afternoon, I was greeted by the unmistakeable scent of Jacob Black. “Oh wonderful,” I muttered. “I knew I smelled something nasty.”

Bella poked me, her eyes lighting up as she saw Jacob. “Jacob! You came!”

I tenderly laid Bella down on the sofa, seeing her face whiten and hearing her breath catch as the change in position jolted her little passenger. I wished I could do more for her- it was difficult to watch her in pain and know how little difference anything I did made. It was worse for Edward, of course, and his face as he brushed a hand across Bella’s forehead and down her neck was hard to look at.

“Are you cold?” he murmured.

Bella shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“Bella, you know what Carlisle told you,” I said reprovingly. “Don’t downplay _anything._ It doesn’t help us take care of either of you.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’m a little cold. Edward, can you hand me that blanket?”

“Isn’t that sort of the point of me being here?” Jacob said smugly. He took a seat on the floor near the sofa and after a moment’s hesitation leaned carefully against Bella’s side. Edward took a place at Bella’s feet, and for a moment all I could do was look at the odd tableau in curiosity.

We had grown used to Bella’s human noises and no longer paid them much mind, and I was more than happy to ignore the hungry rumbling from Jacob Black’s stomach too. At least until Alice, who was sitting quietly behind the back of the sofa making use of the empty brain space the wolf offered her, spoke up.

“Rosalie, why don’t you get Jacob something from the kitchen?”

I stared at the place she was in disbelief. Excuse me? Since when did I become the family maid?

“Thanks anyway, Alice, but I don’t think I’d want to eat something Blondie’s spit in. I’d bet my system wouldn’t take too kindly to venom.”

 _Rosalie you ass, my name is ROSALIE._ I was momentarily speechless with rage.

“Rosalie would never embarrass Esme by displaying such a lack of hospitality,” Alice said with conviction.

Oh, that was _low._ Goodness knows I’d happily spit in Jacob Black’s food on my own account, but no one in the family would do _anything_ to make Esme unhappy. Damn you Alice! “Of _course_ not,” I said with sugary sweetness, and stalked out to the kitchen.

Furious, I threw a steak into the frying pan, tossed some bacon in after it and then yanked open the oven and took out the biggest baked potato Esme had left in there to keep hot. Why did I have to cook for that fleabag? I didn’t even need to cook for myself! Damn Alice…so convenient claiming her lack of human memories meant she didn’t know how to cook! She was the one that was always taking domestic science in school- why wasn’t she out here? I flipped over the steak to sear the other side, fuming. Why wasn’t Jacob out here cooking his own damn dinner, now that I thought about it? He had hands, it wasn’t as though picking a potato out of the oven and preparing a steak was difficult!

After a momentary hesitation I grabbed the big silver mixing bowl from the cupboard and bent it back on itself, shaping it until it resembled nothing other than a large dog dish. With my fingernail I scratched the name _Fido_ into the side, complete with flourishes- may as well make it pretty. I arranged the steak, the potato and bacon and then added a pile of coleslaw and cheese…perfect. I might hate the stupid mutt, but he’d have to reason to complain about my cooking.

“Enjoy mongrel,” I said with a grimace, placing it on the floor by his side.

“Thanks Blondie. Hey, do you know what you call a blonde with a brain? A golden retriever.”

“I’ve heard that one.” Really, I’d spent probably close to fifty years in high school…did he think there was a blonde joke I _hadn’t_ heard?

“I’ll keep trying,” Jacob said cheerfully, and dug in to his food.

I made a face and threw myself down into an armchair and started channel surfing, doing my best to ignore the disgusting sounds Jacob made as he ate, and then the murmured conversation between him and Bella. I didn’t understand that relationship at all…why was he Bella’s best human friend, and what did he get out of the relationship besides pain when he was so clearly in love with her and yet she would never return the feeling?

Eventually Bella slept, but the conversation between Jacob and Edward continued. It bothered me that Edward continued to refer to the baby as a ‘thing’ or a ‘creature’…when was he going to accept that to Bella it was a baby, and always would be? That it didn’t matter what the legends and stories that he shared with Jacob said? We weren’t dealing with legend, we were dealing with life- and it was Bella and Edward’s baby who was on the line.

“What did their stories say about the…mothers?” Jacob asked, his voice sick.

Edward didn’t answer, and I made an impatient noise. “Of course there were no survivors,” I snapped. Didn’t the two of them understand that _this_ was the part of the stories that we really couldn’t afford to give credence to? Those stories…even if they were true, how much similarity was there between those jungle births and Bella, here with modern medical technology and Carlisle at her fingertips?

“Giving birth in the middle of a disease infested swamp with a medicine man smearing sloth spit across your face to drive out the evil spirits was never the safest method. Even the normal births went badly half the time,” I went on. “None of them had what this baby has- caregivers with an idea of what the baby needs, who try to meet those needs. A doctor with a totally unique knowledge of vampire nature. A plan in place to deliver the baby as safely as possible. Venom that will repair anything that goes wrong. The baby will be fine. And those other mothers would probably have survived if they’d had that- if they even existed in the first place. Something I am not convinced of.” I couldn’t help but doubt- surely if such a creature had existed the Volturi would have moved heaven and earth to track it down?

Edward’s face was like stone, and his fingers clenched as he leaned forward, shifting into a crouch. _Oh shit._ I turned my back to him, but kept every sense alert for the attack I feared might be imminent. Had I gone too far? But he was driving me insane…didn’t he realise how disheartening it was for Bella to have him mooning around like she was already dead? To have him practically planning her funeral while she focussed everything she had on staying alive?

It wasn’t Edward who attacked though. It was Jacob Black, the stupid stinking mongrel, who picked up the dog dish I’d so artfully fashioned for him and threw it, hard, at the back of my head. “Dumb blonde,” he muttered.

That…oh, I was beyond rage. Feeling nothing but blazing heat as I turned my head and stared at him. “You. Got. Food. In. My. Hair.”

And the fucker laughed.

What I _wanted_ to do to him would have made what I did to Royce King look merciful, but before I could spring Bella’s eyes fluttered opened. “What’s so funny?” she mumbled.

“I got food in her hair,” Jacob laughed unrepentantly.

“I’m not going to forget this, dog,” I hissed. That asshole would be sorry- if there was one thing I was good at it was revenge.

“It’s not so hard to erase a blonde’s memory,” he grinned. “Just blow in her ear.”

I wanted to slap the smug grin right off his face. “Get some new jokes,” I snapped.

“C’mon, Jake. Leave Rose alone…” Bella began, before she sucked in a sharp breath and winced, leaning over her belly again. “It’s okay,” she panted, as Edward and Jacob leaned forward in concern. “He’s just…just stretching.”

Carlisle and Esme appeared in the room, but before Carlisle could examine her Bella sat up straighter again with a smile. “It’s okay. Think it’s over. Poor kid doesn’t have enough room, that’s all. He’s getting so big.” She smiled up at me, knowing that I was the only one who would appreciate that this made her happy.

 _At least YOU told your jackass friend to leave me alone,_ I thought. _Not like anyone else in the room…nice show of family loyalty there Edward and Alice._

Esme looked at me, puzzled. “What’s in your hair Rosalie?”

I just shook my head. “If you’ll stay with Bella Esme, I’ll just go and have a shower.” Ignoring Jacob’s guffaw I swept up the stairs, only barely containing my anger.

_Four more days. That’s all…_


	16. Feelings Revealed

Were we going to make the four days? My optimism took a bit of a battering the following morning when Bella’s stoic silence in the face of the increasing hard movements of the baby broke.

I had taken her on one of her innumerable bathroom trips and was standing in front of the mirror looking idly at my hair while she straightened her clothes when she suddenly screamed and pitched forward. I caught Bella before she hit the floor but still copped a door in my face as Edward burst in.

“Settle down!” I snapped at him. “It’s under control.” I looked anxiously at Bella, who was biting her lip against the sobs. “What was it?”

“I heard a crack,” Edward insisted. He glared at me, and I knew he wanted to rip Bella out of my arms if it wouldn’t hurt her.

“I don’t think anything broke,” Bella said through gritted teeth. “Just…a big stretch down here near my hip.” She moaned, and Edward shook his head.

“I’m sure I heard something,” he said. “Please love, just let me check. Another x-ray.”

When Bella nodded I carried her upstairs to the medical room, placing her on the table with painstaking care. “I didn’t hear anything,” I muttered to Carlisle. “But Edward thinks she’s cracked her pelvis now.”

“How about we take a look,” Carlisle said gently. “Bella, where did you feel it?”

She showed him and, without moving her, he took an x-ray. Although awkward to see around the bulge of her uterus, all appeared intact. “Nothing broken,” Carlisle said encouragingly. “Ligaments stretching no doubt…let me try something.” Rolling Bella half on to her side Carlisle began, with excruciating care, to manipulate her lower back. Bella winced and then groaned as something he did relaxed the muscles and her tension eased.

“Thank you- that feels much better,” she said gratefully.

“See, I _told_ you I didn’t hear a crack. You need your ears checked Edward,” I couldn’t resist saying. I went over to the fridge. “Do you want some more to drink Bella?”

“Yes please Rose.” Bella took the cup in both hands and smiled at me, as Edward lifted her fragile body and carried her tenderly down the stairs.

Unfortunately the living room now contained Jacob Black. “Carlisle,” he said, “We went halfway to Seattle. There’s no sign of the pack. You’re good to go.”

“Thank you, Jacob. This is good timing. There’s much that we need,” Carlisle’s eyes flickered to the cup in Bella’s hand.

It wasn’t just that we needed to hunt now. Our bloodstocks were running low and at the rate Bella was going through it we wouldn’t have enough to last until delivery, let alone enough for afterward.

“Honestly, I think you’re safe to take more than three,” Jacob offered. “I’m pretty positive that Sam is concentrating on La Push.”

Carlisle nodded. “If you think so. Alice, Esme, Jasper and I will go. Then Alice can take Emmett and Rosa-“

“Not a chance,” I said flatly. “Emmett can go with you now.”

“You should hunt,” Carlisle said in a gentle voice, looking deeply into my eyes. I knew they were dark and I was thirstier than I would generally allow myself to become, but I shook my head stubbornly.

“I’ll hunt when _he_ does,” I said, nodding towards Edward.

Jasper and Emmett came downstairs and joined Alice by the rear door. Emmett took a moment to come and touch me, kissing me hard and momentarily wrapping a hand in my hair and tugging on it gently. His eyes were nearly black and his movements were tense and edgy. He couldn’t stop his nostrils flaring at Bella’s scent, and I gently pushed him in the direction of the others. “Go,” I whispered to him, and he gave me a wink and grin before he disappeared outside and I dropped into an armchair.

The house seemed quieter when it was only Edward, Bella, Jacob and I. Jacob, with a mocking grin in my direction, came and sprawled out in the armchair beside mine, his head tilted towards Bella and his foot far too close to my face. “Ew, someone put the dog out,” I muttered in disgust, picking up the tv remote and flipping it on.

“Have you heard this one, Psycho?” Jacob asked tauntingly. “How do a blonde’s brain cells die?”

I ignored him, staring pointedly at the tv.

“Well? Do you know the punch line or not? Has she heard it?” he asked Edward.

_Get out of my head Edward!_

“No,” he said, apparently in response to both Jacob and I.

“Awesome. So you’ll enjoy this, bloodsucker- a blonde’s brain cells die _alone._ ”

 _Ha ha ha. Hilarious. And how many degrees do YOU have, mutt?_ “I have killed a hundred times more often than you have, you disgusting beast,” I said evenly. “Don’t forget that.”

“Someday, Beauty Queen, you’re going to get tired of just threatening me. I’m really looking forward to that,” he growled.

Oh please. As if.

“Enough, Jacob,” Bella snapped. She looked over at me hopefully and held out the plastic cup. “Some more, please Rosalie? He’s thirsty today.”

I nodded and flew upstairs, glad to get away from Jacob’s infuriating presence and Edward’s moroseness, even if for only a moment. I poured the blood carefully, but as the scent of it hit my nose I had to stop for a moment, clamping down on the monster within me as it screamed. _Oh God, that smells so GOOD, I want it so much, just a little bit, oh I want that!_

 _No!_ With a faint growl I clipped the lid onto the cup and sped back downstairs, pausing in shock at the sight that met my eyes. Edward had his hands, very lightly, on the swollen mound of Bella’s stomach and was leaning over it intently, his eyes alight with wonder.

“Say something else,” he whispered.

“Like what? Edward, what’s going on?” Bella sounded confused.

“The f-…,” Edward swallowed. “It…the baby likes the sound of your voice.”

_Baby. He said baby…_

“Holy crow, you can hear him!” Bella shouted.

Edward was positively glowing as he tenderly touched the top peak of her belly and rubbed. “Shhh…” he murmured. “You startled it…him.”

Bella’s own smile illuminated her face. “Sorry, baby.” She looked at Edward, who was focussing hard. “What’s he thinking now?”

“It…he or she, is…” Edward stopped for a moment. His eyes were filled with awe as he went on, “He’s _happy.”_

For a moment there was silence, and then tears overflowed Bella’s eyes, and for the first time she and Edward were joined in marvelling together at this miracle that had been given to them. For a moment I had to close my eyes, unable to bear it, and yet unable to leave.

“Of course you’re happy, pretty baby, of course you are!” Bella crooned to her belly. “How could you not be, all safe and warm and loved? I love you so much, little EJ, of course you’re happy…”

“What did you call him?” Edward asked.

Bella blushed. “I sort of named him. I didn’t think you would want…well, you know.”

“EJ?”

“Your father’s name was Edward too.”

That same jealous pain came again, blinding and brutal and reminding me all over again that this wasn’t mine, would never ever be mine. Baby names…the secret dream of years, and I could not stop the pang that came as I thought of it.

_A boy would have been John Jeremiah, for my father and Emmett’s father, and we would have called him Jack. A girl would have been Lily Emma- a flower name like mine and Emma for her daddy Emmett…_

“Do you have a backup plan?” I asked Bella, striving to keep my tone light. At that moment nothing mattered more than hiding my hurt from the unsympathetic and mocking gaze of Edward and Jacob. “What if he’s a she?”

Bella sniffed. “I kicked a few things around. Playing with Renee and Esme. I was thinking Renesmee. Too weird?”

“No, I like it,” I assured her, although truthfully I was a little bemused. “It’s beautiful. And it’s one of a kind, so _that_ fits.”

“I still think he’s an Edward,” Bella said. Her face was incandescent as she looked at Edward, listening intently over the hill of her belly. “What’s he thinking now?”

For a moment he was still, and then Edward laid his ear tenderly against her belly, his hands cradling the lump. “He loves you,” he whispered. “He absolutely _adores_ you.”

I jerked away. For a moment I didn’t trust myself to be near her, to be near either of them as they basked in the glow of all that they had. _All that I’ve ever wanted, and it just lands in their lap…_

No one noticed my movement as a betrayal of my inner thoughts. None of them looked at me, as my jaw clenched and my whole body tensed with the agony that felt like it was burning me up from the inside. Instead it was Jacob’s swift leap to his feet that caught Edward and Bella’s eyes, and his head that Edward trespassed in to find out what was wrong.

And what he found was pain. Pain enough to make him reel back and his face contort. Like a striking snake Edward snatched a set of keys from the end table and threw them at Jacob. “Go, Jacob. Get away from here.” It was not said cruelly, in fact there was more kindness than I would have believed possible in Edward’s tone and he tossed the keys to the car like they were a life preserver. As I suppose they were, offering the option of escape, and Jacob seized at them like a drowning man and vanished.

How strange, I thought blankly. He’s hurting just as much as I am. I hadn’t thought him as anything other than an obnoxious child, and it wouldn’t have occurred to me that he was capable of feeling so deeply. But I had seen his face and his pain spoke to mine; for the first time ever a feeling of pity and kinship for Jacob Black stirred within me.

Barely had Jacob left the property (driving the Aston Martin?! Edward doesn’t let ME drive that!) when there was a commotion at the front door and the sound of bare feet on the floorboards. An unfamiliar wolf scent swept in ahead of the furious girl who came storming in to the living room, black eyes flashing and her oddly wild, beautiful face looking furious. It was Leah Clearwater, who I’d only ever seen from a distance or in wolf form, as large as life and twice as angry as she stood in front of us belligerently.

“Damn it Bella, what have you done to Jake now?” she exclaimed.

“Huh?” Bella looked confused, her eyes skipping from Edward to Leah. “What do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean? For fuck’s sake Bella, he’s just gone tearing out of here like a bat out of hell looking like someone ripped his heart out…why couldn’t you have just left him alone?”

Bella simply gaped at Leah in shock, and even Edward seemed too stunned to respond. I opened my mouth and then closed it. Bella was my friend…but I couldn’t deny that maybe Leah had a point here, even if her way of expressing it was a little brash.

“So what is it?” Leah demanded. “Do you get off on keeping him hanging around and dancing to your tune?” Her eyes skipped scornfully to Edward. “You don’t want Jacob, Bella, you’ve made that abundantly clear…so why won’t you just cut him loose? You’ve made your choice and there’s no way Jacob fits into that, so why do you keep dragging him back to your side?”

“I…don’t…” Bella faltered.

“Oh, please, don’t give me that crap!” Leah snapped aggressively. “You’ve done nothing but make Jake’s life miserable! Keeping him around _now_ , making him sit around to keep you company or make you feel adored or special or whatever the fuck it is that you get from him…it’s selfish as hell, Bella. You’re not the centre of the world, and Jacob deserves a lot better than being your toy.”

Bella’s eyes filled with tears. “Jake’s my friend, that’s all.”

Leah practically spit. “Whatever…you don’t get everything you want in this world Bella, especially when what you want comes at the expense of someone else’s life and happiness. Like Jake- he’s worth ten of any of your bloodsuckers and all you’ve done is turn him into their guard dog and your personal pet and made him miserable! Just for _once_ could you stop and think about how what you do affects someone else and stop being such a completely self-absorbed bitch!”

Clearly having said all that she had on her mind Leah turned and, with a haughty toss of her head, marched back out of the house. There was a moment of stunned silence, and then Bella dissolved into tears.

“Oh god, she’s right…I have done nothing but hurt him Edward…”

As Edward’s arms circled Bella, I stepped quietly out of the room. I was so weary of the emotional rollercoaster, and their closeness and love as they sat together, curled in protective love over the baby held close in Bella’s stomach left no room for me. I sat down on the porch, leaning against the railing and staring out into the forest.

_Come home soon Emmett. This is getting so hard…I need you._


	17. The Beginning of Bella's End

“Rosalie? Could you come inside for a moment please?” It was Edward, sounding perfectly friendly and civil for the first time in days.

I rose gracefully from the step and went back into the living room, where Bella and Edward were both seated close together on the sofa. Bella beamed at me, and I smiled back. “What’s happening?”

Edward looked directly at me. “I wanted to talk to you about something. Hearing the baby’s thoughts this morning has changed a few things.”

I raised my eyebrows. _You don’t say._

“I think it’s clear that the baby is far more developed than we were guessing,” Edward went on, pretending not to have heard me. “It’s mental faculties are…well, extraordinary.” He shook his head, bafflement and pride warring on his face. “It has some idea of what hurts Bella and it’s trying not to make those big movements or kick against her bones, but obviously things are pretty tight in there.”

He rubbed Bella’s belly and met her eyes affectionately and my stomach twisted with jealousy. I’d buried my hurt deep over these days of taking care of Bella, but now that it was getting close, now that Edward was suddenly so involved and loving, the cracks were starting to make themselves felt.

“What are you suggesting?” I asked calmly, hoping he was too busy listening to the baby to bother listening to my head.

“I want us to seriously consider delivering the baby as soon as Carlisle returns,” Edward said frankly. “Maybe tonight or tomorrow- Bella’s health is fragile and I really believe that the baby is developed enough that the risk to it is minimal.” He glanced at Bella with a soft smile. “Not knowing what kind of labour something like this is going to cause…well, I would personally feel better if we were proactive, rather than reactive.”

I looked thoughtfully at Bella. “What do you think?”

She hugged herself. “Knowing that Edward can hear him makes such a difference! And I never wanted to be a martyr…if there’s a way to do this that’s safe for me _and_ the baby then I think we should go for it.”

I nodded. Going into a surgical birth prepared and organised did hint at a better outcome. Get the baby out and then get the venom into Bella before anything else could go wrong- “I think it’s a good idea,” I said cautiously. “I mean, we’ve just been guessing but if you can hear the baby and _you_ feel like it’s okay, Bella, then maybe you’re right. Have you talked to Carlisle?”

“No. I wanted to talk to you first.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” I said slowly. “Bella’s been working towards this end, and Carlisle has the equipment we’ll need. The biggest unknown is the baby- about getting through the amniotic sac and…and what he’ll need once he’s born, but we can work with that.” I smiled at Bella, realising what this would mean for her. “There’s no real reason it won’t go well for _you **,**_ Bella. Well, if three days of agony and turning into a vampire counts as _going well_ …and apparently you feel that it does!”

Bella giggled, her eyes bright. “I’ll have all of you to take care of me.” She handed the plastic cup to Edward. “More please?”

“I’ll be back in a moment. I’ll get you the blood and call Carlisle,” Edward said, vanishing up the stairs.

As soon as he was out of sight Bella beckoned me closer, her face serious, and took my hands and held them tightly against the mound of her belly. “You take care of him,” she said fiercely. “ _Whatever_ happens to me, whatever it takes- you take care of him. I trust you Rose…please promise me.”

I looked into her brown eyes that would soon be red and I nodded. “Whatever it takes,” I repeated. “I promise Bella- he’ll be waiting for you when you wake up…after.”

“We’re back!” Alice came skipping into the living room, an oversize cooler dangling from one hand and a bright smile on her face. Jasper came behind her, his eyes light yellow and his smile easy as he took us in. “I’ve bought you gallons of delicious blood Bella…and isn’t it lovely to see you looking so happy!”

“Did Carlisle come back with you?” I asked sharply. “Where is he?”

Alice handed me the cooler. “Please take this away from me Rosalie- it’s rather torturous knowing what’s in it and knowing that I can’t have it. And no, Carlisle and Esme and Emmett are trying another source for some more blood.”

“They’ll be back by noon tomorrow,” Edward said, coming down the stairs and joining the conversation, slipping his phone back into his pocket. He handed Bella the plastic cup and I noticed the spasm of pain that crossed Jasper’s face as the scent of it billowed out into the room. Alice did too, and with a rueful smile she took his hand and pulled him up the stairs.

“What did Carlisle think?” Bella wanted to know, in between slurps.

“He thinks it’s a good idea,” Edward said reassuringly. “He’s been very worried about you love, and thinks that moving ahead once he comes home is a good compromise.” Edward looked up at me. “He said we could have things prepared and be ready to go as soon as he returns.”

“I might do that then,” I said, lifting the cooler. “I’ll put this in the fridge upstairs and get the room prepped. Is there anything, beyond the ordinary, that you think we might need?”

“The silver syringe,” Edward said, with forced casualness. “Just make sure it’s somewhere easily accessible.”

 _His venom._ I kept my face blank. “Of course,” I murmured, moving upstairs so I could refrigerate the blood and prepare the medical room to become a surgical suite.

“What’s happened?” Alice was nearly bursting out of her skin as she accosted me from the doorway. “I still can’t see!”

“I can feel Edward’s emotions,” Jasper added, looking half dazed. “What has changed Rosalie…the man’s lost his mind to love.”

I checked the sharp edged scalpel blades and laid them carefully out on the tray. The retractors went beside them. “Edward can hear the baby’s thoughts,” I said quietly, without turning around. We wouldn’t need anything like sutures… I went over the fridge and counted the blood supply left, then checked the amounts of morphine and other opiates and anaesthetics and prepared suitable doses. Carlisle really did have quite the stockpile here.

“I can’t believe it!” Alice exclaimed blankly. “He can _hear_ the baby?”

“Yes. It seems it’s more developed than we’ve been thinking. The plan now is to deliver it as soon as Carlisle gets back tomorrow,” I told them, taking a brief pleasure in the look of astonishment on Alice’s face. She was so rarely surprised; to see her looking so utterly flabbergasted was both novel and somewhat hilarious.

Jasper laughed gently and slung an arm around her. “Isn’t it nice being surprised, darlin’?”

Alice shook her head. “No! It’s not nice at all!” She pouted and leaned against him, and he kissed her softly on the top of the head as she said mournfully, “And no wolves around to make the static go away either.”

I moved out of the room and leaned over the stair railing, looking down on Edward and Bella in the living area. “No. Seth and Leah are running patrol and Jacob threw another fit and ran off with his tail between his legs- I don’t know if we’ll see him again.” I couldn’t keep the note of hope out of my voice. I wouldn’t exactly be weeping into my pillow if I never saw Jacob Black again.

Jasper leaned companionably against the railing at my side. “It’s nearly over then, whatever the outcome for the foetus.”

“Yes.” I didn’t say anything else, and a moment later I felt Jasper’s calming influence stealing over me, just enough to take the brittle tension from my body.

“I’ve been feeling you, Rosalie,” he said, so softly that the pair downstairs couldn’t possibly hear. He didn’t look at me, but stared thoughtfully at Edward and Bella as he continued gently. “Emotions have been so high here since they came home, but for you…all that hurt. It pains me, and I am sorry.”

I shrugged. “I’ll get over it,” I said tonelessly. “I always do.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Jasper said steadily. “But I’ve felt how hard it’s been and how you’ve fought, and I wouldn’t want you to think it’s gone unnoticed.”

He did look at me then, his eyes light and kind and honest, and I nodded at him quietly. So much of the time Jasper just melted into the background, a steady and slightly detached presence in our lives, but he saw so deeply and not for the first time I felt a rush of gratitude that Alice’s visions had brought her to him and then sent the two of them to us.

I spent the afternoon with Bella, helping her to the bathroom when she needed it, bringing her blood when she wanted that, watching her face blanch and tighten every time the baby moved. It seemed almost incomprehensible that this was to be her last human afternoon- after all this time it was going to happen. I remembered my plan to take Emmett away to our cabin to avoid her transformation and gave a wry smile. So much for plans.

“I’m going to speak to Jacob about the treaty,” Edward said to me quietly, late in the afternoon as Bella lay sleeping.

“Why?”

“I don’t like the idea of breaking faith with the Quileutes after all this time,” Edward said intensely. “The treaty has held strong for so many years, and I find the idea of going back on our word abhorrent. Circumstances have made it inevitable, and regardless of what Jacob says I’ll do it anyway. But I suppose I’m looking to him for absolution. As Ephraim’s heir, he is the true alpha and only he has the right to allow the exception and have the treaty still stand.” Edward looked up at me, and his eyes were wide and vulnerable with pain. “Despite everything…I never intended for it to be this way.” His hand brushed, feather light, over Bella’s forehead.

“He’ll allow it,” I said emotionlessly. “He knows there’s no other way, not now, and he wouldn’t see Bella dead. He’ll give you the forgiveness you seek… _if_ he comes back.”

Jacob did come back, in the end. Night had fallen when we heard the distinctive sound of the Aston Martin from some distance away and listened as he drew closer.

“He didn’t wreck your car, at any rate,” I commented.

Edward gave me a humourless smile. “He wanted to- it’s why I gave him the keys to the Vanquish. He’s a true car enthusiast and I knew he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to destroy that one. The Volvo…well, that would have been smashed straight into your BMW. He’s not your biggest fan.”

“You don’t say,” I muttered sulkily, looking back to the television as Edward headed out to the garage to talk to Jacob.

Bella woke up and I helped her to the bathroom and gave her more blood, watching half enviously as she gulped it down. It was getting harder to resist the tantalising scent of the blood as I got thirstier, and I wondered briefly how soon I’d be able to hunt, after.

Jacob came in with Edward, and although he smiled at Bella I could see the tempest in his eyes at the thought of her imminent transformation and I didn’t say anything to him. I couldn’t exactly bring myself to be nice, but given the circumstances I think my silence was probably gift enough. He sat on the arm of the sofa by her head and the two of them talked briefly before Bella looked apologetically across at me. “Rose?”

Bathroom. “Again?” I chuckled.

Bella made a face. “I think I’ve drunk two gallons in the last hour.”

Edward and Jacob moved aside as I helped Bella up, doing my best not to put any extra pressure on her belly or make sudden, jarring movements that might startle the baby into action.

“Can I walk?” Bella asked plaintively. “My legs are so stiff.”

“Are you sure?” Edward asked, ever the mother hen.

“Rose’ll catch me if I trip over my feet. Which could happen pretty easily, since I can’t see them.”

Carefully I set Bella down on her feet, lightly holding her steady as she adjusted to being upright and the new centre of gravity that her heavily pregnant shape gave her. I kept my hands up, ready to catch her as she stretched her arms and sighed. “Oh, that feels good. Ugh, but I’m huge.” She patted her belly. “One more day. Alrighty then. Whoops!”

As Bella moved away from the sofa, the cup she’d left sitting on the sofa cushion tipped over, the lid somehow coming away and the dark red blood inside spilling out, soaking into the pristine white fabric. “Oh, no!”

Four sets of hands reached for it. Edward, Jacob and I had our fingertips on it when Bella’s hand, still out in space, suddenly stopped and trembled as we all heard the noise. A muffled tearing sound from inside the centre of her body. “Oh…” she breathed, her eyes widening with surprise, and then without another sound she went limp.

I caught her before she could fall, Edward at my shoulder and his hands out as backup. “Bella!” he said urgently, and then his eyes went glassy and unfocussed and his face turned panicked.

Half a second later, Bella screamed.

This…whatever was happening- and that tearing sound had given me a pretty good idea of what it was-  was agony, and it exploded out of her in a blood curdling howl that cut off with a gurgle as her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp. A second later her body twitched and then jerked, her back arched with a spasm of pain and she opened her mouth again; but instead of a scream this time it was blood, a river of red that poured from her lips and shocked us all into a brief, horrified stillness.

_Oh Bella…little baby in there…hold on._


	18. Renesmee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- To everyone who asked me to write this- thank you for giving me the push, because damn but this one is fun to write! Thanks too to everyone who is giving me feedback and encouragement, it really does mean a lot.  
> This chapter is full of blood and gore and drama and toothy, vampire-chewing-through-amniotic-sac-caesarean goodness, so if you’ve got a weak stomach you should probably be prepared for it!

Bella’s body seized and convulsed. Her face was stark white and her mouth slack, but her body twitched and jerked as if doing some kind of grotesque dance in my arms. And it was not music that accompanied it, but the snap and crack of breaking and shattering bone as the baby within struggled fiercely for its own life.

The stillness broke. As fast as I could I had Bella cradled firmly in my arms and I was speeding up the staircase, Edward on my heels. After all our plans it had come to this- blood and agony and emergency, as Death held out his shadowy hands for Bella and only Edward and I stood in his way.

“Morphine!” Edward shouted at me.

“Alice- get Carlisle on the phone!” I screamed as I sped to the medical room I had prepared and laid Bella carefully down on the table. Her body continued to shudder weakly, and I held her down and tore furiously at her clothes as Edward grabbed one of the prepared syringes of morphine and injected it into Bella’s arm.

“What’s _happening_ , Edward?” Jacob Black was in the doorway, staring on in horror.

“He’s suffocating!” Edward gasped.

I met his eyes. “The placenta must have detached.” That had been the ripping sound- the placenta, the baby’s lifeline, tearing away from the wall of Bella’s womb, leaving him with no source of nourishment or oxygen. With every second that ticked by he was dying, suffocating in his watery world.

As if she heard us, Bella’s eyes sprang open, wide with terror. “Get him OUT!” she shrieked. “He can’t BREATHE! Do it NOW!”

“The morphine…” Edward growled.

Bella looked past him to me, her eyes burning fervently in her pale face as she stared straight at me. “NO! NOW!” she screamed, and I remembered what she had said to me back on the first day, when I had asked her why she had called me and asked me for help.

_“You’re strong Rosalie, strong enough to do whatever it takes, even if that’s hard and goes against everyone else, and even if you don’t want to do it.”_

That’s what she’d said. Maybe she’d known, even back then, that it would come to this…her life for her baby’s life. And she’d chosen me because I could, and would, do what had to be done, even when it was hard and ugly and seemed impossible. I met her eyes squarely and I nodded, and even in the chaos and agony I knew that she knew I would do what I had to do to save her baby. _Whatever it takes…_ I picked up the scalpel.

Alice flew into the room, not breathing, not looking at the blood that dripped from Bella, and fixed a phone earpiece over my ear before she bolted back out.

“Rose?” It was Carlisle, his voice tense but steady. “Tell me what’s happening.”

“Placental abruption,” I said rapidly. “Edward can hear the baby- he’s suffocating. We can’t wait.”

“No, you can’t. Okay, you know how to do this,” Carlisle’s everlasting calm seemed to seep through the phone line to me, and my hand was steady as I moved the scalpel across to Bella, tracing my fingers across the blood slicked skin. “You know where to make the incision. Watch the depth- I don’t believe the scalpel will go through the amniotic sac but best not to take chances.”

Edward, was cradling Bella’s head and shoulders, raising them slightly and trying to clear her mouth of the blood that was threatening to choke her. “Let the morphine spread!” he roared at me.

 _Whatever it takes…_ “There’s no time. He’s dying.”

Sure and steady I brought down my hand with the scalpel, slicing through the layers of skin and fat and muscle, seeing the balloon of Bella’s uterus bulging out through the incision. I had a moment of satisfaction, seeing that I’d done it exactly right, before it all went to hell.

_So. Much. Blood._

Not since human Emmett, torn apart by a bear, had I been faced with so much blood. Streams of it flooding from Bella’s mouth, spouting from the incision I’d just cut low on her belly, flowing warm and thick across my hands and smelling so sweet...the inner monster of the blood lust raised his head and screamed in triumph as my iron will faltered. A lifetime of control and now, when it mattered, I would fall.

_Want that, want that, WANT THAT!_

“No, Rose!” Edward bellowed frantically, but his hands were caught underneath Bella and if he laid her back to stop me she would choke.

I couldn’t move. Caught in the spell of all that blood – _want that, so good, need that, mine take it give it to me mine mine MINE!_ – I couldn’t tear myself away. At the same time there was still a tiny part of me, almost lost under the demanding clamour of the monster, who _knew_ that this was Bella and that I didn’t want to, _couldn’t_ , do this.

The next instant I was almost engulfed in the smell and heat of Jacob Black as he threw himself at me. His palm smashed into my face, blocking my airways for a brief and blessed instant, then he swung me around and kicked, hard, across my body. And so help me, I let him do it. Let my body absorb the force of his kick and fly backwards into the doorframe, buckling the wood and smashing the earpiece as I landed.

Immediately Alice was on me, her skinny arms wrapped around my throat as she dragged me down the hallway by my neck, looking terrified. “Rosalie, come with me, please…oh Rose! Jasper, help me!”

I did nothing as she hauled me into my room and dropped me unceremoniously on the floor. Jasper came in and slammed the door behind him and I just lay on the carpet, staring numbly up at the ceiling as Alice crouched beside me and anxiously clutched my hand. “Rosalie, what happened? Please! Talk to me!”

“I failed,” I said numbly. “When it came down to it, when it mattered the most…I failed her.”

Alice whimpered in terror. “Oh, you didn’t…did you?”

I suddenly became aware of my blood soaked clothes and Jasper’s eyes on me, flat and black, his lips drawn back over his teeth and gleaming with venom. With a sudden muffled curse I scrambled to my feet and stripped it all off hastily, hurling the soiled clothes out of the window. Jasper looked politely away, although he’d seen me naked so many times I don’t know why he bothered, and Alice snatched up some clean underwear from my drawer and tossed it at me. From down the hall I could hear Edward and Jacob shouting, and the pounding beat of Bella’s heart.

“No,” I muttered, racing into the bathroom and washing all the blood from my skin, feeling more myself as the red stained water swirled in the basin and down the drain. “I didn’t feed on her,” I said more loudly, diving into the wardrobe and grabbing the first things that came to hand. “But there was too much blood…well, you saw.” I yanked on the t-shirt and jeans, shuddering as I heard the noise coming from down the hallway, a screeching sound like metal shredding.

“What is _that?_ ” Alice gasped.

“Edward ripping through the amniotic sac, most probably,” I replied tensely.

I stood motionless for a moment, all my senses strained to hear what was happening in the room down the hallway. The screeching sound was gone, replaced by quiet, the only sounds the rhythmic thudding beat of Bella’s heart…and then suddenly a new sound, faster and lighter than Bella’s heart beat but with the same cadence as it fluttered through the louder sounds from Bella… Jasper, Alice and I stared at each other incredulously. Then we heard the softest whisper from Edward, but it had all the impact of a shouted chorus of angels on the three of us…

“ _Renesmee.”_

I was halfway down the hall when Bella’s heart stopped. _Oh no!_ I heard Jacob begin CPR, hammering down on Bella’s chest to keep her blood moving.

“What are you waiting for?” he snarled at Edward.

“Take the baby,” Edward said insistently.

“Throw it out the window!”

I reached the room and paused in the doorway, shocked at the sight of what looked like a massacre. Bella was motionless, her stomach gaping open, blood dripping from her body to the table and pooling on the floor. Jacob was elbow deep in the carnage, his eyes wild as he pumped furiously at Bella’s chest. Edward stood beside the table, and he resembled nothing more than a horror movie doctor, with his arms and shirt and face smeared and spattered and soaked with blood. But the look on his face was nothing less than enraptured as he gazed down at the little thing he held in his hands- a little thing that moved tiny hands and kicked tiny legs, and whose heart beat on, strong and steady. _A baby…Renesmee._

“Give her to me,” I said.

As one, Jacob and Edward both growled at me. I didn’t blame them for the distrust, but there was no _time_ now, not for Bella…

“I’ve got it under control,” I promised. “Give me the baby, Edward. I’ll take care of her until Bella…” I couldn’t finish.

Edward met my eyes piercingly. _I promised Bella_ , I told him silently. _I promised her I would take care of the baby for her…you know you can trust me Edward._ I snatched up a towel from the stack piled on a chair and held out my hands, and without hesitation now Edward placed his precious baby in them before he took the silver syringe filled with venom and turned back to her mother.

 _Come back Bella,_ I thought, as my view of her was obscured by Edward. _Come back and see what you were fighting for, come back for baby Renesmee…_

I stepped from the room, wrapping the towel around the baby and holding her close. She felt so light in my arms, and she was _warm…_

“I’ve got the baby,” I told Alice and Jasper through their closed door. “It’s Renesmee…she’s pretty covered in blood and I bet she’s hungry, so I’m going to take her downstairs and clean her and feed her. Okay?” I knew they would want to see her, but I was afraid of what Jasper might do with that temptation of the blood smeared all over her tiny defenceless body.

I grabbed the supplies I would need and flew downstairs. No pretence at humanity now, I moved with all possible vampire speed and within a minute I was lowering the baby into the kitchen sink filled with warm water, gazing at her in enchantment.

Renesmee was beautiful. She was tiny, but didn’t look like a premature infant. As the blood washed away her skin showed through as ivory with a flush of pink, and the full head of curls was the same bronze colour as Edward’s hair. The eyes that watched me with an almost unnerving interest were brown.

“You’ve got your mama’s eyes baby girl,” I said softly. “She’s going to be just fine, you know that? Your daddy’s up there right now, and he’s going to heal her. She tried so hard for you Renesmee, she fought and fought and was so strong…”

My words failed as the baby in my hands smiled at me, showing me a full set of pearly white teeth behind her red lips. Her eyes gleamed with intelligence completely at odds with her newborn status, and I felt a frisson of unease run down my spine. Renesmee was beautiful, she appeared strong and healthy, but… _what was she?_

“I bet you’re hungry,” I said after a pause, lifting her out of the water and gently rubbing her dry with a clean towel. “I’m going to get you something to drink right away little one…baby formula or blood? Before I feed you though, I’ve just got to do a few little tiny things…I’m not quite the doctor Carlisle is, but I know just what he’ll want to know.”

Quickly I went through the usual newborn APGAR screening, not sure that the results would be particularly meaningful for a half vampire baby, but at least it gave me a starting point. I weighed and measured her, listened to her thrumming, steady heartbeat and noted the rate of it, took a quick temperature and recorded her breathing rate. Renesmee had a faster heartbeat and higher temperature than a normal newborn, seemed to have no startle reflex and have extraordinary strength and muscle tone. All these tests took less time to perform than say really, but through it all Renesmee watched me with her bright brown eyes and I talked softly, telling her what I was doing.

“Okay Renesmee, all done. Good girl. We don’t have any diapers or clothes for you baby, I’m sorry- do you even need diapers? How human and how vampire are you going to be?” I fashioned a soft, fluffy hand towel into a diaper and fitted it on using butterfly bandage clips to fasten it. “I guess we’ll see, but I’ve been catching all of your mama’s vomit for days and I’m really over the bodily waste thing Renesmee so you’ll have a diaper until I know. Luckily my only baby experience was before disposable diapers,” I murmured. I wrapped her snugly in a quilt and took the two bottles I had prepared and the two of us went into the living room, sitting down on the clean end of the sofa.

The bottle of baby formula met only closed lips and a slightly wrinkled little baby nose, but when I somewhat gingerly offered the bottle of blood her mouth opened wide and clamped down with a tiny little coo.

I held her, looking down at her preternaturally beautiful and aware face, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or sob. _What had Bella and Edward done?_ What was this little creature going to become, this beautiful baby that had already somehow stolen my heart even as she drank human blood?

Stolen my heart she had, in the few minutes we’d been looking at each other. It felt almost physical, this warm rush of love that flickered and flared in my stone vampire heart, and the fierce desire to nurture and protect her. _Whatever it takes…_ I had promised Bella and now I looked into Bella’s eyes again as they shone at me from the tiny baby face of her daughter, and I promised again. “ _I will fight for you and protect you for as long as you need me, Renesmee.”_

From upstairs, the sounds changed- no longer the sucking, thumping sound of Edward forcing venom laced blood through Bella’s veins, but the fast, thudding beat of a changing heart…it had worked. Bella had won. Renesmee was here, born safe, and now Bella too would be reborn.

 


	19. The Imprint

Renesmee finished the bottle and I put it aside, lifting her up to my shoulder. Blood drinker or not she was still a baby and the idea of snuggling and nuzzling her neck and smelling her hair and blowing raspberries was irresistible.

“Oh, beautiful baby girl,” I crooned. “Aren’t you just the sweetest thing, little Renesmee… _oh,_ _what was THAT?”_

I heard Jacob’s dragging footsteps coming downstairs and stopping as he paused in the living room. I knew he was behind me, and a tiny part of my brain registered that and said that I had damn well better turn around before he decided to take a snap at me. But I couldn’t react. As I had cuddled Renesmee against my shoulder her little hand had touched my cheek and into my head had come a picture of Edward, face bloody and hair matted into clumps with gore, but his eyes were dazed with wonder as he looked down at me... No. Not looked down at _me_. The perspective of the image…

Behind me I heard Jacob whimper, but I paid no attention. All my focus was on Renesmee as I drew her away from my body and stared into her eyes, which looked back at me with grave alertness. Then with great deliberation she reached towards me again, and I bent my head forward until her hand touched my cheek, as light and gentle as feather.

The picture wasn’t Edward this time, but Bella. Bella, looking bone pale and haggard, but she smiled and love transformed her ravaged face into something beautiful as she whispered, “Renesmee…so beautiful…”

Abruptly I jerked my face away from the baby’s touch, half afraid. This was insanity! Surely she couldn’t be making me see these…they had to be _memories._ It wasn’t possible! And yet, and yet…

“You _are_ doing it, aren’t you?” I murmured. “I don’t know why it surprises me that you can do something amazing. You’re only a half vampire, half human baby, and your daddy’s a telepath…why shouldn’t you be able to do something extraordinary, when the very fact that you exist pretty much defies belief anyway?”

 I smiled down at Renesmee and kissed her forehead, and she patted me with her hand again. The images and feelings came quicker now, as though she knew I understood and was listening. She didn’t use words, but somehow the feelings came along with pictures as she showed me things. She had liked the warm water in the sink…the baby formula had not smelled good and she didn’t want it…she liked it when I talked to her…Jacob, looking at her…

I rose to my feet and spun around. Jacob was slumped at the bottom of the stairs, staring through me to Renesmee as though he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

“What are you still doing here, dog?” I said flatly. “Bella’s gone now- she’ll be one of us in three days…you’re free. Go back to Leah and Seth and get yourself a life.”

“I…can’t,” Jacob sounded dazed. “It’s not…Bella…wasn’t really her…the baby… _Renesmee._ ”

I stared at him blankly for a moment, and as if drawn by a magnet he paced slowly towards me. He never took his eyes off the baby, and his face absolutely glowed with worship and devotion he couldn’t hide as he reached out a hand. I suddenly remembered talking with Bella about the wolves once, about the way the packs communicated and worked together, and about the whole weird imprinting thing…

I leaped away from him, landing halfway across the room without even jolting the baby in my arms. “LIKE HELL YOU DO!” I shrieked at him.

With a rush of wind, Alice and Jasper flew down the stairs and landed between Jacob and I, crouched and snarling. Jacob stumbled backwards, his hands held up in clear surrender as he shook his head frantically.

“I didn’t do anything! I’m not _going_ to do anything!”

“Oh _sure,”_ I snarled. “Because imprintingon _our baby_ is _NOTHING AT ALL!”_

Alice straightened up, looking from Jacob to me to the baby I was holding close to my chest, her face bewildered. “He _imprinted_ on Renesmee? But doesn’t that mean…?”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at Jacob as I stalked closer to him. “I am going to _destroy_ you, you freaking mongrel. I am going to rip you into tiny little pieces and…you know what? I’m not even going to bother. I’m going to wait until Edward reads this shit from your mind and then…” My words cut off as Renesmee made a little noise and reached towards my face. I let her touch me, and then I groaned and dropped down on to the sofa. “You have GOT to be kidding me.”

I looked into her bright, chocolate brown eyes and shook my head wearily, because with her hand on my face Renesmee had shown me Jacob and she _wanted_ him here. She didn’t like me to shout at him.

“He’s not going to hurt her,” Jasper said. He was still eyeing Jacob with distrust, but then relaxed his aggressive stance and came and peered over my shoulder at Renesmee, a smile breaking over his face. “Well, would you look at that? Hello Miss Renesmee.”

Alice flitted over to my side, her face alight with fascination. “Oooh,” she murmured, charmed. “Look at her! Such a pretty baby,” she cooed.

“There’s more,” I said to them softly, unable to hold back my smile. “She’s _amazing_. You have to see what she can do. Show them Renesmee,” I said encouragingly, lifting her up so her small hand could reach out to pat Alice on her cheek. “Show Alice what you can do.”

I watched Alice’s face, saw the confusion and shock and then dawning understanding. She gently took the little hand from her face and looked at it, and then held it against her face again, before she gave a lilting giggle.

“What did she show you?” I asked eagerly.

“She doesn’t like the baby formula,” Alice giggled. “Jas, she can _communicate._ ”

It was Jasper’s turn to be enchanted by the little baby I still had cradled in my arms then, as she once again demonstrated her extraordinarily unique ability as he held her little hand against his face. “I can’t believe it,” he murmured. He looked across at Jacob, who was sitting on the bottom step with his head in his hands, and then raised his eyebrows at me and Alice. “She wants him here. I wonder what Edward is going to have to say about that?”

Alice frowned. “I still can’t see her,” she said petulantly, but then her face brightened until she was almost luminous. “But I _can_ see Bella now, and she’s going to be fine…oh, she’s going to be wonderful!” She clapped her hands together in glee, and gave Renesmee an impulsive kiss. “Oh little Renesmee, your momma is going to make an amazing vampire!”

I cuddled Renesmee close, laughing at Alice as I buried the tiny pang her words had caused as I thought about handing this baby back to Bella.

Alice beamed at me and then bounced to her feet. “Oh my goodness, you know what this means Rosalie… _baby clothes shopping!_ Renesmee, darling, will you ever forgive your Auntie Alice for not being prepared? The very idea of someone in this house wearing only a makeshift diaper…I’m _mortified!_ ” Her eyes were sparkling. “Just think Rosalie- teeny little dresses and those adorable little pyjamas and miniature leather jackets and jeans and…oh my goodness, the weeny little _shoes!”_ Alice danced around the room. “Oh, I have to get started right now! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!”

I giggled. “Just let me go up and show Edward,” I told her. “He has to meet his daughter properly, and I don’t think he will want to leave Bella right now.”

I ignored Jacob as I carried Renesmee upstairs, and although he raised his head from his hands and followed Renesmee with yearning eyes he said nothing either. I _wanted_ to kick him out and never have to look at his stupid face again, but I already knew I wasn’t going to do anything that would cause the baby in my arms any unhappiness.

I’d leave that to Edward. She was his daughter, and it had been him who had let Jacob hang around all this time. He could sort out the mess.

But I was too happy with the warm, wrapped weight of the baby in my arms to get too worked up. _We had done it!_ I had promised to protect Bella and her baby and here I stood, her baby soft and breathing and alive in my arms, and Bella was becoming that which she’d wanted all along- a Cullen vampire.

I stopped in the doorway of the medical room. I could hear the pounding beat of Bella’s heart as the venom worked its way through her system, but she lay still as stone as Edward finished bathing her and gently covered her ravaged body with a sheet.

“Edward?” I said tentatively.

“I don’t know if I’ve done it right,” he said, his voice raw. “She hasn’t moved at all…everyone else moved. You, Esme, Emmett- you all writhed and screamed, but Bella hasn’t moved at all.”

“Maybe the morphine makes a difference?” I said softly. “Isn’t that something you and Carlisle talked about? Using morphine?” I looked across at Bella. “And it’s Bella…when has she ever reacted like a normal person?”

Edward gave a hoarse laugh. “Maybe you have something there.”

“Alice said it’s going to be fine,” I offered. “She can see Bella perfectly now, and she said she’s going to be amazing. It turns out it was Renesmee all along, blocking Alice’s visions.”

Edward’s face was soft as he looked down at the baby in my arms. “Is she…”

“Perfect,” I said simply. “She’s perfect, Edward.”

“Give me a minute.” Edward disappeared into his bedroom and returned a moment later with damp hair and fresh clothes, holding out his arms. Half reluctant to let her go I placed Renesmee in them, and watched with an ache in my heart as Edward cradled his daughter close, murmuring softly. He turned away from me, rocking her as he spoke to her gently, and when he turned back his face was illuminated by his smile, and even through my hurt I had to respond to his joy.

“Congratulations Daddy.”

Edward laughed gently. “Oh Rosalie! I never dreamed, not in all this time…” He shook his head and whispered “Renesmee,” as he kissed her forehead.

“I’m sorry about before,” I said awkwardly. “The blood…I’m sorry I let you down, when it mattered.” I dropped my head, shamed.

“Don’t,” Edward said. “You have nothing to be sorry about Rosalie- nothing.” His face went still, and he looked away from Renesmee and met my eyes directly. “Thank you Rosalie,” he said, slightly stiffly. “I don’t know how to say it, how to convey how enormously grateful I am for what you did for Bella and Renesmee, when I didn’t have enough faith to do it myself.” He took a breath. “I was wrong…and I’m so happy that I was! So thank you for doing what you did for Bella.”

I had never been very good at accepting what amounted to apologies without trying to get in the last word, especially with Edward, but for once I just bit back my sharp words and nodded. Edward went to say something else but then stopped and cocked his head, looking thoughtfully down at Renesmee as she batted at his face with a little hand, her fingers stretched out.

“Well, well, well…” he murmured, raising his eyebrows at me with a quizzical look.

I giggled. “I didn’t know if you’d pick it up! Since you hear everyone’s thoughts, I didn’t know if she would be able to show you things like she apparently can to the rest of us.”

Edward was entranced. “She can do it all of you? Amazing.” He kissed her again, and then laughed. “She’s hungry again- she keeps showing me you feeding her.” He looked at me affectionately. “You’ve got a little friend here I think, Rose.”

I could feel my besotted smile splitting my face. “She’s beautiful Edward. I ran the usual newborn screening on her, and she’s so strong. Look how deliberate her movements are! She’s heavier than an ordinary newborn of that size would be, her temperature is higher and her heart rate faster, but her breathing rate is slightly slower. Her skin doesn’t feel like ours, but not like a human either- something in between. I offered her baby formula which she didn’t like, and blood which she _did_ like. I don’t know about her digestion, so she’s got a diaper on in case that’s a more human area. I’m sure Carlisle will want to run more tests and see what else he can learn about her, for the moment I really think she’s fine.” I stood by Edward’s shoulder, both of us looking down at the perfect, alert face of Renesmee as she regarded us solemnly from inside her blanket.

“I spoke to Carlisle,” Edward told me. “They’re on their way back now- should be back within the hour.” He glanced uneasily over at Bella, still motionless on the table. “I will be glad when he’s here!” he burst out anxiously. “Bella was so badly injured…”

“Alice said it will be fine,” I reassured him. “She’s seen it. None of us were in such great shape when we were changed, remember? Just be glad she’s quiet.” I couldn’t suppress my shudder as I remembered the horror of watching Emmett writhe and scream with the agony of the burning when he was changed, and I hadn’t even loved him then.

“I know,” Edward said fretfully. “But I will feel better once Carlisle is here and can examine her.” He held out the baby in his arms. “Will you feed her Rosalie? She’s thirsty again, and I don’t want to leave Bella. If Renesmee is remembering things already I would rather she not be in here with…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but his eyes skipped to the mutilated body on the table and his jaw clenched.

“Of course I’ll feed you, won’t I Renesmee?” I crooned, taking back the baby and cuddling her. “Lots and lots of yummy blood to help you grow into a big strong girl…” I looked back at Edward for a moment, feeling slightly foolish with my doting tone, although he just smiled at me indulgently. I wrapped the blanket a little more snugly around the baby. “We’ll need some clothes, although I’m sure Alice will have that well in hand by now. She probably has half the stock of Babies’R’Us on route to us now.”

Edward smiled at me a little distractedly and turned back to Bella. “I’ll stay with her…” he murmured. “Perhaps clean up. It can’t be easy for Jasper to have the scent of so much blood in the house.”

“If he can smell it over the stench of the dog,” I said tartly, and then immediately backed out of the room, trying desperately to switch my mind away from the thought of Jacob Black imprinting on Renesmee before…

“Rosalie Lillian Hale!” Edward roared. “You get back in here and tell me what the hell you just thought about! Jacob Black did _WHAT?!?!”_


	20. Unselfish Love

“I’m sorry Edward!” I called, hastily moving towards the stairs. “Can’t stop to chat when Renesmee’s thirsty! You’ll just have to sort it out with Jacob!” I smiled maliciously at Jacob as I passed him, still slumped on the bottom step. “I’m _sure_ he can explain everything!”

I fed Renesmee while I sat up on the counter kitchen, the baby settled in the crook of my arm and sucking greedily at the microwave warmed blood in the bottle. Alice and Jasper were still in the living room and I didn’t want to tempt Jasper with the bottle of blood. Thinking of it, I sniffed curiously at Renesmee, taking in her scent that somehow managed to hover on the borderline of human and vampire. Enough human in her for it to appeal, but enough vampire to stop it being an overwhelming temptation to take a bite. Thinking of Bella, awaking to a newborn’s raging thirst, I was glad for her sake that Renesmee would not smell like unadulterated human temptation.

“Rosalie!” There was movement at the door and Carlisle, Esme and Emmett came in from the garage. All three of them flew to my side and then stopped, captivated by the sight of the baby in my arms.

“Oh my goodness,” Esme whispered, reaching out a gentle hand and stroking Renesmee’s flushed pink cheek.

Emmett looked from the baby to me, his face curiously still, and for once he didn’t say a word.

Carlisle’s face was alight with fascination. “Amazing. You’ll have to tell me everything Rosalie.” He looked at the empty bottle in my hand. “She’s drinking blood?”

“Yes. I offered her formula but she wouldn’t take the bottle,” I said. “I wrote down some notes…”

Carlisle didn’t wait for me to finish before he had snatched up the page I’d scribbled them down on and scanned it eagerly. The scientist in him was intrigued by the unique little creature that had come so unexpectedly into our family, and I knew he couldn’t wait to investigate.

“Bella?” he asked at the same time, cocking his head to listen for the heartbeat.

I hesitate. “It was ugly Carlisle. I don’t know how much she suffered as we delivered Renesmee- probably a lot, to be honest. But Edward got the venom into her fast, and Alice can see her in her visions again and said it’s all going to turn out fine. It turned out that it was Renesmee blocking her, Alice still can’t see the baby…”

I stopped for a minute as Emmett gave me a distant smile and went into the living area, but then Carlisle held out his hands. “May I see?”

I handed the baby to her, and stood by his side as he placed her on the counter and unwrapped her briefly. “Oh, she’s warm…” he murmured, testing her reflexes. “So very strong!”

Renesmee kicked her legs and held out her arms, waving her fists in the air. I leaned forward with a smile and let her touch me. “She wants you to wrap her up again,” I said, unable to resist blowing a raspberry on her tummy, plump and round with the bottle she’d just drunk.

“The little mite needs some clothes,” Esme murmured. “To think she’s just wearing a towel and a blanket like some little foundling!”

I giggled. “Alice is right on it. I think we can expect a parade of delivery trucks as soon as it’s light in the morning. I didn’t know about the diaper either, but I wasn’t going to find out she has a human digestive system by having her pee on me.”

Carlisle had been leaning over Renesmee on the counter and listening to her heart and counting her respirations, but he suddenly stiffened. “Rose…”

“She can communicate,” I said, guessing that she had shown him something. “She can touch you and show you things- she certainly doesn’t have the mind of a newborn.”

Carlisle’s smile widened and he chuckled. “Okay Renesmee, no more doctor right now.” He wrapped her up again and ran a hand through her curls. “It can wait until tomorrow I suppose…you certainly seem healthy enough.”

Esme held out her arms and took Renesmee next, speaking soft words to her as Carlisle questioned me about the birth. “When I spoke to Edward he said it was done, that Renesmee was here safe and you were taking care of her, and that he had bitten Bella and begun the change. He said there were complications though, and he’s not sure that he has done what he needed to, although if Alice sees a positive outcome that’s very reassuring.”

“It was somewhat chaotic,” I admitted. “The placenta detached- I heard the sound it made tearing away from the uterine wall and then Bella screamed and vomited blood…that’s the mess in the living room Esme, we need a new rug…so we took her upstairs and called you. Edward could hear Renesmee’s thoughts and we knew she was suffocating. She was kicking and thrashing and she did a lot of damage to Bella then. I did the incision just like you said,” I said, feeling a squirming feeling of shame as I related the next part of the tale. “Her uterus was right there…but there was too much blood. I couldn’t…couldn’t…” My voice faltered.

Carlisle touched me gently on the shoulder. “You did the best you could Rosalie.”

“Jacob kicked me out of the way,” I went on quietly. “And Alice and Jasper took me down to my room. I think Edward tore Renesmee out then, but a few moments later Bella’s heart stopped. I was back in control then, so I took the baby and when I left Jacob was doing CPR and Edward injected Bella with the venom he’d collected. They kept working on her, and then her heart restarted. She hasn’t moved, which worries Edward, but she had a lot of morphine in her system.”

“I’ll go up and talk to Edward in a minute,” Carlisle said. “But it sounds like you all did extraordinarily well in very difficult circumstances.” His eyes on Renesmee were bright. “And she’s rather extraordinary…I’m looking forward to finding out more about her.”

“Tomorrow,” Esme said firmly. “Tomorrow is soon enough. For now she can just be a baby.” She looked down at Renesmee, slightly puzzled. “Well, as much of a baby as she can be, given how advanced she seems to be…”

“Jacob’s still here?” Carlisle said questioningly. “I would have expected him to leave immediately. Not that I’m not grateful he and Leah and Seth are still here- until we are sure what the pack’s intention is towards Renesmee the extra protection is reassuring.”

I snorted. “I don’t know about protection. But Jacob still being here is a little matter of the stinking dog imprinting on our baby…and much as I’d like to skin him alive and tan the fur to replace the ruined living room I’m not even going to get involved. Edward can sort this mess out.”

Esme and Carlisle both looked rather baffled, but they didn’t say anything. What was there to say, really? It wasn’t as though any of us understood the wolf psychology behind imprinting, not really. Instead Carlisle headed upstairs to talk to Edward and Esme and I went into the living room to check in on Alice, who was online shopping with great fervour and glee.

“Rosalie, come and see!” she cried. “Oh, you will absolutely _die_ at how adorable these little outfits are! Don’t worry sweet Renesmee, I have deliveries scheduled for the morning so soon your time in the fashion wilderness will be over!”

I was dragged over to sit beside her and look at all the little clothes she’d bought. They were adorable, and I couldn’t resist taking over her laptop and adding some more things that I especially liked…oh, this was going to be one spoiled baby girl!

“Rosalie, I’m going to go up and see Edward and Carlisle and see if there’s anything they need,” Esme said to me a little later. “Do you want to take Renesmee?”

“Oh, yes please!” Eagerly I took the little bundle from Esme and smiled tenderly down at the baby. “Hello baby girl.” Renesmee patted at my face with her hand, showing me feeding her. “Oh, you’re hungry again already? Okay then.”

As Esme disappeared up the stairs I carried the baby back to the kitchen and fed her another bottle of blood. “No wonder Bella was so thirsty,” I murmured to her. “With a hungry little thing like you inside!” Already I seemed to be desensitized to the idea of this angelic looking baby drinking human blood. As the bottle emptied Renesmee’s sucking became slower, and she yawned around the nipple, her little eyelids fluttering. “Are you going to _sleep?_ ” I whispered, entranced. I put the bottle aside and she yawned again, and as I cradled her close and rocked her gently her little eyelashes settled against her cheeks as her eyes closed. Her body was heavy and limp with relaxation.

“She _sleeps,_ ” I whispered, going into the living room. “Look…she’s sleeping.” For a moment the incongruity of my life struck me- I had accepted this baby in my arms drinking blood and communicating her thoughts via touch without even blinking an eye, but somehow the fact that she _slept_ was extraordinary.

Alice and Jasper were the only ones in the living room. “Where did the others go?” I asked.

“Jake went outside,” Alice said. “And Emmett…I think he’s in your room.”

Curious, I went upstairs. I could hear Edward, Carlisle and Esme talking quietly in the room where Bella lay, but Emmett wasn’t with them. Instead I opened the door to our bedroom and found him standing by the window, leaning forward against the glass as he looked out into the night. Hearing me, he turned and smiled, but it was a quiet and sad echo of his usual exuberant grin.

“Hey,” I said softly. “What’s up?’

He shrugged. “Not much…” He looked at me yearningly for a moment, and then sighed as he lowered himself into the armchair. “Come here baby.”

I went to Emmett and curled up on his lap, still cradling Renesmee, and his arms were more than big enough to wrap around both of us. I leaned my head against his shoulder and felt his lips on my hair and the familiar and beloved scent of him fill my nose, the weight of the baby warm and reassuring in my arms, and for a moment I simply relaxed into the perfect peace of the moment. _This is where I belong, right here with you._

With one arm holding me close, Emmett’s free hand played with my hair. Combing his fingers through the long silky strands, wrapping hanks of it around his fist, rubbing his cheek against it as he breathed in the smell. “I love you angel girl,” he mumbled.

I twisted slightly so that I could look up into his face. His eyes were light gold after his recent hunt and looked down at me with a deep sadness I had very seldom seen in him. “What is it?” I asked softly touching his cheek with a loving hand. “I thought you’d be happy it’s all over and Edward and I won’t be at each other’s throats anymore.”

Emmett grinned. “Yeah…I won’t miss that. It got pretty damn vicious there.”

I shivered slightly. “It did. But something else is bothering you now…”

Emmett ran a twist of my hair across his lips. “It was a shock coming home and seeing you like that, with the baby held in your arms,” he said slowly. “I’ve known for so long how much you’ve wanted that and I’ve imagined it so many times you know, you being a mama like you’ve always wanted…” His voice broke and he cleared his throat before he went on. “When I came in and saw you sitting there, holding her and feeding her like you were, with all your hair hanging down and your face so pretty and your eyes looking at her all soft and loving…it was everything I always thought it would be like, but seeing it just hurt, angel girl. Hurt because it’s not real, because she’s not our baby and I can’t ever give you that.”

 _Oh Emmett._ I couldn’t speak, because the truth was Emmett was right. Sitting here, the three of us cuddled up together in the armchair, it was beautiful and loving and it all felt so right…but we couldn’t avoid the harsh truth. It _wasn’t_ real, because Renesmee wasn’t our baby and we would never have a baby who was ours. We would never be the family we had always dreamed of.

“I’m sorry,” Emmett mumbled, dropping my hair and holding me close, bending his head to kiss me. “I’m sorry I can’t give you what you want most…”

“Shh.” I pressed my lips against his to silence him, feeling the small, solid bundle of warmth that was Renesmee pressed in between us. “It doesn’t matter Emmett, truly it doesn’t.” I looked at him squarely. “It will always hurt that we can’t have that. There will always be an empty ache for what _should_ have been…but I can’t let that take away from what is, and what we have together is beautiful Emmett.” I kissed him again, long and lingering, loving the taste and feel of him.

“You’re beautiful baby,” Emmett said hoarsely. “I love you, and I’m so glad you’re not hurting too bad…I don’t know, I thought you’d be torn up about this and you’re being so strong.”

I looked down at Renesmee. “I thought I would be too,” I said slowly. “I thought I’d be mad with the pain of it. Yes, there is part of me that could weep knowing that Renesmee isn’t mine, that she’s going to grow up and it will be Bella that she calls Mama and not me. But at the same time,” I paused before I said softly, “Love doesn’t have to be selfish Emmett. There is always room for more. She’s showed me that already you know,” and I traced a finger lightly across the sleeping baby’s hair. “When I took her back in my arms from Esme just before, she showed me…she showed me _me._ My own face, the way I look to her…and she was _happy._ She loves me already, and she loves Bella and Edward and even that damn stupid dog Jacob…it’s not a competition. I don’t get to be a mother, and because I want that it will always seem like a loss to me. But I can’t look at Renesmee and think about what my relationship with her _isn’t_ , you know? I just have to love her, and make that be enough.”


	21. Here I Belong

Emmett’s lap was comfortable, and with the baby sound asleep in the centre of our embrace we had no reason to move. I felt the tension I’d been holding for days slowly drain away as I sat there surrounded by his touch and smell and love. Emmett hummed and I rested my head against his chest, feeling the vibrations, closing my eyes and listening to his tune and the soft, regular breathing of Renesmee, the regular thrumming of her heart underlying it all.

“You’re thirsty,” Emmett said, his finger running over the bruise-like shadows that lay under my eyes. I looked at him, knowing that the depth of darkness in my eyes would show it more clearly.

“I am,” I acknowledged, and then shuddered. “I nearly slipped with Bella,” I confessed. “When I cut her open to get Renesmee there was so much blood everywhere…I forgot everything in the face of how much I wanted it. I didn’t do it, but probably only because damned Jacob Black threw me bodily out of the way. I don’t know whether I want to kill him or thank him.”

“We’ll go out hunting as soon as you want,” Emmett said. “You’ve been freaking amazing all this time, pouring out those blood bags for Bella and now feeding it to the baby without even blinking. I couldn’t have done it…fuck it, it hurt me to walk past the fridge and know what was in it, and that was without even smelling it!”

I rested my head on his shoulder. I _was_ thirsty…but not so much that I was even a little tempted to end this beautiful moment here, cuddling up with Emmett and the sleeping Renesmee in the moonlight. “When she wakes up will be soon enough,” I said contentedly.

“We should probably talk to Jacob about how safe it is too,” Emmett said thoughtfully. “The baby’s here now, and I dunno…she seems harmless enough. I don’t know that the pack will think it’s worth risking a slaughter at our hands just to kill her. But I’d rather not find out they’ve still got us on their hit list by watching them try to take _you_ out baby doll!”

“Emmett!” I protested. “Don’t talk about anyone wanting to hurt her like that! She might hear you!” I held Renesmee a little closer, the very prospect of her being hurt shaking the ground under my feet.

“She’s asleep!” Emmett said, peering down her curiously. “Damn but it’s weird having a baby here! She’s kind of cute though.” He touched her a little gingerly and then laughed. “She looks like Edward, poor kiddo.”

I poked him. “She’s perfect! She could do worse than look like Edward.” I paused. “She’s got Bella’s eyes though.”

Emmett kissed me. “Are you really going to be able to hand her back to Bella once she’s changed?” His finger continued to stroke Renesmee’s round cheek, and I was touched by how ridiculously large his hands looked beside her tiny face.

“Yes,” I said firmly. “I’m not even letting myself pretend that she’s mine. I’m just taking care of her for Bella like I promised.” I sighed a little. “It’s easier to think of now though, now that Bella and I…well, I guess we’re friends now, after all that,” I said hesitantly. For so long Bella Swan had been a thorn in my side, it felt quite odd to think of her with a genuine, unforced affection.

“I’m sure you’ll still get lots of time with her anyway,” Emmett snorted. “Baby vampire Bella is gonna have a lot of things to occupy her time with as well as this little teeny thing. Hunting, hunting, hunting…oh, and a good bit of vampire sex I’d imagine.” He waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively.

“Emmett! Not in front of the baby!” I said reprovingly, and he muffled a laugh in my hair.

“She’s _asleep!_ And come on Rose, like it isn’t more than time Edward got laid…”

I giggled. “Well, clearly he already did! At least once!”

“Yes, but not _vampire_ sex…”

“Emmett! Enough!”

His whole body shook with his efforts to laugh quietly and he nuzzled into my neck and nipped. “Damn it but I missed you Rosa girl! It was insane to be in the same house and yet feel so far away from you…don’t do that to me again.” He sighed. “I need you. My world’s not right when you’re not there to share it with.”

As dawn began to lighten the sky Renesmee stirred and opened her eyes. “Hey baby,” Emmett said, taking her from me gently and smiling down at her. “Good morning to you.”

She considered him for a moment and then reached out towards him. “Let her touch you,” I said, as we both rose from the chair, and obediently Emmett tipped his head forward until Renesmee’s little hands could touch his cheeks.

Almost immediately he jerked his face back. “Woah baby- that’s just weird.”

“Emmett!” I frowned at him. “That’s no way to talk to her.”

“Well, you can’t say it’s normal! But hey,” Emmett smiled charmingly down at Renesmee, and much to my surprise she smiled back at him. “If that’s the way we’re going to talk to each other, I can deal.” He ducked his head back down. “Hit me with it, baby.”

His huge hand engulfed her tiny one and he held it gently against his cheek, both of them looking at each seriously as he did so. I couldn’t help but feel a small spark of pain then, watching Emmett’s face as he and Renesmee connected for the first time, seeing the dawning smile on his face and the love blossoming in his eyes as she charmed him too. _I wish I could have given this to YOU…you would have been a good daddy._

“Breakfast time,” he said cheerfully. “Baby here keeps showing me some pretty blonde giving her blood- she’s getting impatient for some more.” He winked at me. “Okay then little thing, you’re the boss.”

We descended the steps to find the living room almost returned to its normal state, although minus the blood stained sofa. The rug Bella had bled over was also gone and the smell of bleach hung heavy in the air, although it couldn’t quite obscure the scent of wet dog that still pervaded the room. Jacob was sprawled in an armchair apparently asleep, and Alice and Jasper shared the other armchair. Carlisle and Esme were in the kitchen, but when they heard Emmett and I they came hurrying towards us. As if sensing our presence Jacob’s eyes flew open and, as soon as he saw Renesmee in Emmett’s arms, he leapt to his feet and paced anxiously towards us.

“Are you still here?” I said with dislike, but he ignored me as he walked right up to Emmett and gazed down at the baby with a dopey smile.

“How is she? Did she sleep all that time? You should feed her…I could do it…”

“Bugger off,” Emmett said, although without any animosity. “What’s your deal- don’t you have something better to do than moon over a baby? You could go and see Sam and maybe let us know if we’ve still got a price on all our heads…what’s that, baby?” Emmett looked down at Renesmee who was batting her fists about, and then took one of her hands in his and held it to his face. “What’s that, baby? You like Jacob, huh…you got a defective sense of smell or something, little one?” He looked up and shook his head. “No accounting for taste,” he said cheerfully.

Jacob held out his hands. “Give her to me Emmett, please…” I had never heard him sound so polite.

“Sorry dude,” Emmett said. “If I hand this baby over to you Rose will have my balls, and while I’ve got nothing against you personally I plan on staying in my girl’s good books. If you want to imprint on the baby, well, that’s your issue and I’m not saying anything, but you can sort it out with Edward if you want to play baby sitter.”

I snorted. “Thanks Emmett.”

He grinned at me. “Are you going to feed her? I doubt I can sit there with a bottle of blood in my hand without taking a swig, and I can’t go stealing food from babies…I have _some_ standards you know.”

Carlisle and Esme came hurrying over to us. “Has she been asleep all this time?”

I nodded. “Yes, she just woke up and let Emmett know she was thirsty.”

“Well, that’s rather convenient and easy for a newborn infant,” Carlisle said with a smile. He looked down at Renesmee thoughtfully. “I do believe she’s grown. Once she’s had something to drink I want to do a thorough exam and see what I can learn.”

Jacob was moving from foot to foot in agitation. He didn’t seem able to tear himself away from Renesmee now that we’d brought her into his presence.

“What’s the deal with hunting?” Emmett asked. “Rosalie’s pretty badly off, for all she’s pretending otherwise.” Tucking Renesmee more firmly into the crook of his arm he wrapped his other arm around me. “I think she should leave the baby to you and go out, but not if Sam’s still on the warpath.”

“You don’t have to worry,” Jacob said instantly. “I went and saw Sam last night and everything is settled. Because of…she…when I told him…” he stumbled over his words, a dull red flush creeping over his face. “They can’t hurt Renesmee,” he said finally. “Because of the imprint, no one in the pack can touch her. And Sam’s got no quarrel with the rest of you. You and Blondie- _Rosalie,_ I mean…you’re fine to go out now. All of you.”

I groaned. Of course, being able to go out hunting was a good thing, but to owe our reconciliation with the Quileute pack to Jacob and his wretched imprinting issue made me rage. Surely this didn’t mean we owed him anything? Were we never going to be rid of the mangy creature?

Carlisle grinned at me sympathetically. “It will all sort itself out in the end, Rose,” he said cheerfully.

Esme held her arms out expectantly. “Come on Emmett, let me have Renesmee and you take Rose out. I’ll feed her and then Carlisle can do his examination.”

“And by then I’m sure I’ll have deliveries and we can play dress ups with Renesmee!” Alice chimed in excitedly. “Whatever Emmett does to distract you out there Rose- and heaven help me, the things I’ve seen of you two today!- keep things out there short and come back- no one else will appreciate the darling little outfits the way you will!”

I laughed and blew a kiss to Renesmee as I let Emmett drag me out the front door. As soon as I was outside, the fresh air blowing a thousand different scents past me, I realised how thirsty I was and I began running. For a moment I just revelled in the freedom of using my speed and strength again, and then a fresh scent trail from a lone elk reached me and I began hunting.

Emmett dropped back a little, letting me stalk alone, and as soon as I was within reach of the creature I struck, snapping the spine to immobilise the big animal as I tore into the neck. _Oh yes, this is good…_ Not since I had been a newborn had I fed with such fierce, complete absorption in the satiation of my thirst. When Emmett came closer I couldn’t hold back the feral snarl as I pulled my kill closer to me and away from him.

He watched in amusement as I drank, waiting for me to finish and sit up on my heels before he dropped to a crouch in front of me. Leaning forward he licked the trail of blood up my chin to my lip, and I opened my mouth and caught his lips with my teeth.

“I want more,” I growled.

“Greedy girl…” Emmett breathed, his eyes dark with desire.

“I am…” I curled my hands into his hair and held his head as I kissed him hard. He responded with ardour, and for a moment I let myself drown in the sensations of heat and touch and wanting that swirled around and between us. But then I bit his lip hard and pushed him away with enough force to send him rolling and jumped up to my feet with a laugh. “Catch me if you can!” I taunted, and turned and fled.

I had only a tiny head start, but it was enough to make the game fun as I raced wildly through the forest, dodging and backtracking and teasing, feeling the anticipation of being caught building with every minute that passed. I was feeling smug about having eluded him so skilfully when there was a sudden triumphant shout and I was enveloped in Emmett’s big body as he grabbed me with one arm and the two of us rolled across the forest floor.

“Gotcha,” he grinned. “Bought you a present,” he added, brandishing the bobcat he had caught in his other hand.

The animal yowled and fought against the iron grip of Emmett’s hand on the scruff of her neck, and the scent of it was heavy and strong and made my venom run. With a low, purring growl I took the jaw in one hand, feeling the sharp teeth against my skin as I stretched out her neck, and bit. The blood was hot and thick and had that sharp, tangy taste of carnivore that I had come to love and I heard, as if from a distance, my tiny mewling noise of pleasure.

Not just pleasure of the blood though. Because there was Emmett, with his big hands making clothes disappear, the softness and heat of his lips as he kissed me with such insistence, devouring my body as I drank the blood so fiercely. The strength from the blood flowing through me, the desperate fierce desire for my Emmett and the wanting of that big hard beautiful body…I was nothing more than a mass of sensations and reactions as the heartbeat under my hand stuttered to a stop and I threw the drained body aside at the same minute as I opened my legs and arms and engulfed Emmett, feeling him fill me and hearing his hoarse bellow of exultation as the two of us became one again. _Oh yes, this is where I belong, here with you I’m home…I missed you Emmett…my beloved…ohhh yes…_


	22. An Unwelcome Pet

It was the light slanting through the trees that alerted me to how much time had passed. I stretched, feeling the scrape of the forest floor against my back, and Emmett’s arm, strong and comfortable under my head. I blinked for a moment, reorienting myself to the world now that the fire of feeding and sex had burned itself out. “It must be the afternoon now…we’ve been out here for hours.”

“Mmm,” Emmett sighed happily. He rolled me towards him and nudged his leg in between my thighs. “I’ve got lots of hours left in me yet.” He stroked my back and teasingly kissed my mouth.

I kissed him back, but then pushed against him and sat up, combing my hands through my hair to dislodge as much of the forest debris as I could. “We have to get back. I want to see Renesmee.” I looked around doubtfully. “What did you do with my clothes?”

“No idea,” Emmett said, flipping up on to his feet and holding his hand out to me. “Lost them way back somewhere, so I hope they weren’t your favourites or anything.”

“No,” I said distractedly. Okay, days of abstinence weren’t good for either of us- that had been insane and we were miles away from where we’d started off. “Oh well…nothing they haven’t seen before,” I sighed, brushing away the dirt.

“Nothing anyone can possibly complain about seeing again,” Emmett said, eyeing me with great appreciation. “You’re _sure_ we have to go home?”

I laughed and took his hand. “Yes we do. I promised Bella I’d take care of Renesmee. And I _want_ to, anyway.” I jumped up on his back, holding on around his neck and kissing his ear. “I love you Emmett.”

Emmett carried me home, bypassing the living room and taking us into our bedroom through the window. I showered quickly and dressed, and despite how anxious I was to get back to the baby I took a moment to stop by the room where Edward sat with Bella, watching over her. The room echoed with the racing beat of her heart, but she lay as still and lifeless as ever.

“She’s starting to heal,” I said quietly, seeing where the skin was beginning to knit itself back together.

“If I just knew…” Edward’s voice trailed off, and I touched him sympathetically on the shoulder and then went quietly away, knowing that there was nothing that could really comfort him now.

Downstairs Alice was sitting on the floor surrounded by an enormous pile of boxes and mailing envelopes, with stacks of clothes flung haphazardly into the loveseat. She beamed at me. “Rosalie, these clothes are SO adorable!”

I nodded at her distractedly, looking around for the baby and horrified to find her at last, lying happily in the crook of Jacob’s arm as he gazed down upon her with a look of complete infatuation.

“You!” I hissed furiously. “What are YOU doing with her?”

“Now Rose…” Esme began placatingly.

“Edward says it’s fine,” Jacob said defensively.

“Well, he didn’t exactly say it was _fine_ ,” Jasper drawled, his face amused as he looked from Jacob to where I was standing with my hands on my hips. “He said he would deal with you all once things with Bella are settled.”

“Well then, that’s when he’ll skin you alive and make mittens from your carcass,” I snapped. “Not to mention what _Bella_ will do to you! Now I’ve been gone for hours, let me have her.” I looked down at Renesmee and felt my face twitch with shock. “She’s grown!”

Carlisle had been watching quietly, and he nodded with a slight look of unease darkening his face. “The accelerated growth rate of the pregnancy seems to be continuing with the baby. Weight, length, head circumference…it’s all increased since you did the initial measurements last night.”

“Her hair, too,” I said, slightly dazed, noticing the mop of bronze curls adorning the little head as Renesmee turned and smiled at me. “That’s incredible.”

“Half my shopping will be wasted if this keeps up,” Alice said in disappointment from her place on the floor. “She’s outgrown the little premie outfits already!”

I scowled at Jacob who showed no signs of releasing Renesmee to me. “Come on, let me have a turn to hold her.”

“Nessie’s happy where she is,” he said stubbornly.

“Nessie?”

“Uh…well, Renesmee is kind of mouthful,” Jacob muttered. “Thought Nessie would do as a nickname.”

“At least it sounds kind of like a name,” Emmett said cheerfully. “I mean…Renesmee? What was Bella thinking? How’s that going to blend in when she goes to school?”

Jasper laughed, and even Alice giggled. Esme and Carlisle merely smiled, and then Esme said to me brightly, “You can go and get a bottle ready for her Rosalie, and you can feed her. It takes a lot of nourishment to fuel that growth rate.”

Still disgusted with Jacob’s presence I did as Esme suggested, and a moment later I was curled up with Emmett and Renesmee in an armchair as she drank thirstily from the bottle. As she drank she patted at my face and I felt a glowing rush of love as she showed me that she’d missed me and was happy that I was with her. I kissed her and she smiled up at me, showing new dimples in her cheeks that reminded me sweetly of Emmett.

Emmett himself seemed perfectly content with Renesmee and I on his lap, stroking my hair with one hand and keeping the other arm wrapped around Renesmee. He was even able to ignore Jacob who had his eyes fixed on us and seemed to be watching us with wary intensity.

“Do you _mind?_ ” I snapped at last. “What do you think I’m going to do- take a bite?”

Jacob muttered something unintelligible and threw himself back down on the seat, folding his arms and looking at us balefully. I rolled my eyes and looked pleadingly across at Carlisle. “Do we have to put up with him? Can’t you make him leave?”

Carlisle grinned at me. “Jacob’s not hurting anything. Some extra protection for Nessie isn’t a bad thing…we’ll wait and see how Bella feels about it all.”

“The smell is hurting me,” I muttered sulkily, but I couldn’t feel too upset, not with the beautiful baby lying in my arms, dressed now in a little white sleeper printed with pink flowers, smiling at me sleepily as she sucked slowly on the last of the bottle. “I don’t believe our family is in need of a pet.”

“You finished there, Loch Ness?” Emmett crooned, taking the empty bottle and tossing it to Esme, who caught it without even looking and put it in the sink in the kitchen. “It’s not a bad name for a little monster like you, hey?”

“I’m sure Edward is going to love it,” I giggled. “Now little princess, how about we go and give you a bath?”

Renesmee was agreeable to the idea, so Alice and I went and shut ourselves in the bathroom with her, filling up the big tub so she could stretch out and kick in the warm water. I was almost shocked at how visibly she’d grown and filled out since her birth, less than twenty-four hours earlier and glanced over at Alice uneasily.

“You can’t see her?” I asked hesitantly. “How she’ll grow up?”

Alice shook her head. “Jasper and I have come up with a theory though,” she said. “I can see humans in my visions because I was one, and I can see vampires because I AM one, but these hybrid things, like Nessie and the wolves…well I don’t _know_ them so I can’t see them.”

“Maybe,” I said, laughing as Renesmee giggled and splashed in the water. “It would make sense, although I wish your visions could tell you something about Renesmee. We still don’t know really what she is, or how she’s going to grow up.”

“Oh, let’s just be optimistic,” Alice said brightly, using the bath wash to blow bubbles which Renesmee followed with fascinated eyes. “She’s just our baby Ness- half vampire and half human and fully perfect, aren’t you darling one?”

She held out a towel and I lifted the squirming baby into it and we dried her off and carried her back out into the living room and Alice’s enormous pile of baby clothes to dress.

“Diaper?” I asked, pointedly turning my back on Jacob.

Carlisle was sitting up at the table, writing in his journal and simultaneously scrolling through something on his laptop. “She seems to have both a human and a vampire digestive system,” he told me thoughtfully. “I know she’s refused the formula so I bought some donated breastmilk and she did drink that, although not very enthusiastically I must admit. But her previously dry diaper was wet after that, so perhaps she’s responding as a human to human nutrition, and as a vampire to vampire nutrition.”

I looked over at him as I fastened the diaper on. “Did you find out anything else?”

“I’ve made a lot of notes,” Carlisle said. “It’s difficult to know how significant any of the observations will prove to be though, at this point. I did attempt an ultrasound and an x-ray, but her skin appears impermeable. I’m doing a chromosome analysis.” He tapped his pen thoughtfully. “I’d love to try an MRI if we can only arrange it, and getting some blood- or whatever flows through her veins- could tell me a lot …”

Alice was dressing Renesmee, briskly buttoning her into a navy velvet pinafore over a pink t-shirt and tights and then combing the silky curls. She looked at me a little guilty and then added shoes, the sweetest little pair of black Mary Janes made from the softest leather. “I couldn’t help myself,” she confessed. “The _shoes_ Rosalie! So many perfect, adorable little shoes…they’re irresistible.”

“Of course,” I said solemnly, picking up Renesmee and snuggling her, hearing but choosing to ignore Jacob’s exasperated huff behind me.

“Picture time!” Alice announced, and Renesmee touched my cheek and showed me that while I’d been out hunting Alice had begun taking photographs of all her pretty new clothes. “Smile, Ness!”

I looked over at her as I realised that she’d included me in the picture too. “Is that wise?” I asked. Photographs were something we generally avoided, especially with anyone other than our vampire family as they provided evidence of our unchanging nature.

Alice shrugged. “She’s changing so fast- I wanted to be able to show Bella what she’s missed while she’s been transforming.” She hesitated for a moment. “You can strip the digital date information from the file too, or we can print it out and then delete them, but this way Ness will have the baby photos that the rest of us don’t.”

I spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Alice and the baby. Jasper and Emmett watched a game on television and ostensibly Jacob was watching with them, although in reality he spent most of his time casting jealous, protective glances over to where Alice and I were laughing with Renesmee. I could not believe that we were still stuck with his presence! Everything about him annoyed me- his stinking odour, his noisy human breathing, the disgusting noises he made when he ate everything that Esme kept cooking up for him, the infatuated way he gazed at the baby – and it annoyed me just as much that no one else seemed as bothered by him as I did! Despite the appalling idea of him imprinting on the baby (whatever that might mean to her) everyone else appeared to be adopting a live-and-let-live attitude. Well, I’d leave it to Bella and Edward…surely they would be the ones to put a stop to the madness?

Of course, perhaps they wouldn’t, because the worst part of it all was that Renesmee, beautiful innocent little baby that she was, was undeniably and ridiculously fond of Jacob in return! Her eyes sought him out across the room and many of the things she showed me through the touch of her hand had to do with him…in fact that the two things in her life that made her unhappy were the absence of Bella and when I snarled at Jacob. Since there was nothing I could do to hurry Bella’s transformation and bring her back to her daughter, I was forced to adopt at least a pretence of civility with Jacob in order to appease the baby that was rapidly becoming the centre of the household.

As this went on downstairs, upstairs Bella’s transformation continued. Faster than anyone else had changed, Bella’s vampire body emerged from the broken remains of her human body, diamond hard and perfect. And still she did not move.

“She’s going to wake up soon,” Carlisle said, coming downstairs only a little over two days after Edward had given Bella his immortal kiss and sent her into the flames. “We need to be prepared.”

“What did you have in mind?” I asked from my seat on the new sofa, where Alice and I were once again shopping for Renesmee, who already needed a new size of clothes.

“We’ll have to keep her away from the little monster here,” Emmett said, grinning up at Renesmee as he tossed her in the air and caught her expertly. She clapped her hands and dimpled at him in evident glee, and Emmett swung her around and made airplane noises before he tossed her up again. “At least until we know she isn’t going to eat her,” he added, making smacking noises with his lips against the baby’s belly as she hung above his face.

“Emmett…careful…” Jacob was practically twitching with anxiety.

“Dude!” Emmett exclaimed in exasperation. “Will you lay off? I’ve been throwing and catching shit for eighty years before you were even born…she’s fine!”

“Rosalie, perhaps you could stay down here with Ness,” Carlisle suggested. “The rest of us can go up and see how Bella feels…we’ll have Jasper this time to help control those newborn emotions.” He smiled ruefully at Jasper and winked at me. “We could have used him when Rosalie was a newborn, let me say that!”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t deny that Carlisle was right. “Bella will have an easier time of it than any of us,” I pointed out. “She knows what to expect. She’ll have Jasper for her moods, and Edward to help her.” She wouldn’t be like the rest of us, waking to a world we knew nothing of and being horrified.

“Edward will take her out hunting right away,” Carlisle said. “I think that’s necessary before she sees Renesmee.”

Jacob was clearly unhappy with the whole idea. “I think we should test Bella on me first,” he said tensely. “I’m not exactly human, but I’m closer than any of you…see what she does to me, who’ll heal fast, before we risk her getting close to Nessie.”

“Okay,” Carlisle nodded, at the same time as I snorted disdainfully.

“Jacob, you smell foul. Trust me, even with a raging newborn thirst no one wants to take a swallow of _that_ ,” I muttered disgustedly.

He glared at me but fortunately didn’t say anything- Renesmee didn’t like me shouting at Jacob, but she was equally disapproving of him mouthing off to me and he was even more a slave to her wishes than I was.

Upstairs Bella’s heart speeded up, as impossible as that seemed, and everyone looked at each other with taut anticipation…it was nearly over. Wordlessly Emmett handed Renesmee to me with a brief kiss, and a second later I was alone apart from the baby as all the others vanished upstairs.

“Your momma is going to wake up soon,” I murmured to Nessie, stroking her curls and twisting them, slightly uneasily, around my fingers. She touched me, showing me her only memory of Bella, and I kissed the top of her head. “That’s right, that’s your momma…she’s going to look a little bit different now, sweet girl, but that’s not going to matter. She’s going to be so happy to see you…” I held Ness close, feeling the confusion of love and loss swirling in my heart as I thought of giving her back to her mother.  

Upstairs, Bella’s heart gave a few final, frantic beats and then there was silence. 


	23. Vampire Mama

“They’ll be back soon,” Emmett said, grinning with anticipation. “Baby Bella’s first hunt…wish I could have seen it.”

“You need to remember that they’re newlyweds Emmett, and give them at least a little privacy,” Esme said reprovingly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Emmett said dismissively. “I don’t care about that shit. I just want to see clumsy Bella not falling over her own feet when she tries to walk.”

“I want to see what Bella’s going to do when she finds out that stray mongrel she’d been keeping around has imprinted on her baby,” I said, sulkily looking over at where Jacob had Ness on his lap. Behind the baby’s back he flipped me off and I hissed at him.

“Settle down baby doll,” Emmett murmured, rubbing my knee. “Let Bella…hey, I can hear them!”

Jacob leapt to his feet and pushed Renesmee towards me. “Here…take her. I’ll go out and let Bella have a go at me first.”

I took her without a word. Jacob still didn’t use my name, but at least he’d stopped called me Blondie in that derisive way.

We stood to greet Bella and Edward, the others unconsciously moving forward to form a line of protection ahead of where I stood with the baby. She placed a hand impatiently against my skin and showed me her memory of Bella, and I nodded and patted her back.

“Yes, she’s coming Ness…see?”

Jacob, unfortunately completely unharmed, came into the room ahead of Edward and Bella. He stood by my side, far too close for comfort- at this proximity the smell of him was thick and unpleasant in my nostrils. I couldn’t help but feel some reluctant sympathy for him though, as fingers of unease ran up and down my spine. I knew about the newborn thirst- how well would Bella be able to control herself around this tiny and vulnerable child?

Renesmee twisted in my arms, peering around Jacob’s broad shoulders to catch a glimpse of her parents. Likewise Bella peered uncertainly through the line of vampires to see the child in my arms, her eyes widening in shock as she saw her.

“I was out just two days?” she gasped.

Renesmee reached back to touch me and I patted the little hand against my neck. “Yes, that’s her.” I felt her little body quiver with joy, and then she smiled.

Bella moved towards us.

Faster than thought, Emmett and Jasper were in front of Bella, shoulder to shoulder so there was no way she could strike, as Edward gripped her arms. Carlisle and Esme moved with Emmett and Jasper and I took several quick steps backwards, Jacob nearly treading on my feet as he moved clumsily after me.

Only Alice stayed where she was, and she shook her head at us scoldingly. “Oh, give her some credit! She wasn’t going to do anything. You’d want a closer look too.”

“I’m okay,” Bella insisted, then hesitated. “Keep close though, just in case.”

Renesmee strained, stretching out towards Bella. She didn’t want to wait, didn’t understand the caution and why she couldn’t go and be with her mother right away.

“Jas, Em, let us through. Bella’s got this.” Edward said firmly.

“Edward, the risk…” Jasper said cautiously.

“Minimal. Listen, Jasper- on the hunt she caught the scent of some hikers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time…”

Carlisle gasped and Esme’s face creased into concern. Jasper nodded slowly, and Emmett just shrugged. I didn’t respond at all, trying to contain Renesmee who was squirming and struggling in my arms, although I noticed Jacob’s grimace of disgust.

“Edward! How could you be so irresponsible?” Carlisle chided.

“I know Carlisle, I know. I was just plain stupid. I should have taken the time to make sure we were in a safe zone before I set her loose.”

I patted Renesmee consolingly. _Come on Edward! So you screwed up and Bella killed someone- can we just get on with this please? All I care about right now is whether she’s going to hurt the baby or not!_

Edward was busy answering a comment from Alice. “I wasn’t making a joke. I was just explaining to Jasper why I know Bella can handle this. It’s not my fault everyone jumped to conclusions.”

“Wait,” Jasper demanded. “She didn’t hunt the humans?”

I looked up sharply. She resisted? Newborn, thirst unsated, and she _hadn’t_ killed them?

“She started to,” Edward said, clearly bursting with pride over Bella’s accomplishment. “She was entirely focused on the hunt.”

“What happened?” Carlisle asked, his eyes bright.

“She heard me behind her and reacted defensively. As soon as my pursuit broke into her concentration, she snapped right out of it. I’ve never anything to equal her. She realised at one what was happening, and then… _she held her breath and ran away.”_

“Whoa,” Emmett murmured. “Seriously?” I heard the slightest undercurrent of jealousy, probably not noticeable to anyone else but me. Emmett would be the first to admit that he still couldn’t do that and leave a hunt.

“He’s not telling it right,” Bella muttered, clearly embarrassed by Edward’s boasting. Obviously some things hadn’t changed- she still didn’t like a fuss. “He left out the part where I growled at him.”

“Did you get in a couple of good swipes?” Emmett asked eagerly.

“No! Of course not!”

“No, not really? You didn’t attack him?” Emmett said in disappointment.

“Emmett!” Bella was horrified and I hid my smile. Oh, Bella needed to learn that indestructible could be fun, especially between mates…

“Aw, what a waste!” Emmett groaned. “And here you’re probably the one person who could take him – since he can’t get into your head to cheat – and you had a perfect excuse too. I’ve been dying to see how he’d do without that advantage.” Emmett shook his head sadly.

“I would never,” Bella declared. She was staring now at Renesmee, and the look on her face was longing as her hands reached forward. “Edward,” she murmured. “Please?”

Jasper seemed uneasy, but Alice touched his arm and gave him a reassuring smile. “Jas, this isn’t anything you’ve seen before, trust me.”

Slowly, painstakingly, pausing after every step to examine her thirst and assess if it was safe to continue, Bella crossed the room towards her daughter. But this safe, cautious approach was too slow for Nessie, and as she struggled in my arms, for the first time ever in her life, she let out a wail of unhappiness.

The reaction was instant, as everyone swarmed around her, patting her and consoling her.

“What’s the matter? Is she hurt? What happened?” Jacob’s voice was loud with panic as he snatched the baby from my arms, and I was forced to let her go before he ripped her in half in his impulsiveness.

“No, she’s fine,” I said. “She just wants Bella…see?”

“She wants me?” Bella whispered haltingly. She stared at the baby for a moment, almost frightened, and then it was as though something clicked within her. I saw the recognition dawn and the love and warmth bloom in her smile as she held out her arms and took the baby into her arms.

There was silence as we watched Renesmee smile, and touch Bella’s face. Bella’s eyes widened as she choked, “What was that?”

“What did you see?” I asked.

“ _She_ showed me that?” Bella appeared dazed.

“I told you it was hard to explain,” Edward said, a little smugly. “But effective as means of communication go.”

“What was it?” Jacob asked curiously

Bella blinked, confused. “Um. Me. I think. But I looked terrible.”

“It was the only memory she had of you,” Edward explained. His voice was rough as he spoke of it, and I wondered if he would ever be able to think of Bella’s human death and vampire birth without reliving his agony. “She’s letting you know that she’s made the connection, that she knows who you are.”

“But _how_ did she do that?”

Edward shrugged. “How do I hear thoughts? How does Alice see the future? She’s gifted.”

“It’s an interesting twist,” Carlisle said thoughtfully to Edward. “Like she’s doing the exact opposite of what you can.”

“Interesting,” Edward agreed. “I wonder…”

They began an earnest discussion, usually something I would have had my nose in and my opinions on, but not this time. As Bella stared, mesmerised, at her daughter and Renesmee played with a lock of Bella’s hair and touched her face to tell her things, I had to turn away before the ache in my heart became too much to bear.

_I knew I’d have to give you back Ness. I knew you weren’t mine…but it hurts so much to see you and Bella have this moment of being mother and daughter and know I will never have this!_

Emmett reached towards me, unobtrusively lacing his fingers through mine and holding my hand tightly as I leaned against him. “Okay?” he breathed, ducking his head slightly to meet my eyes.

I bit my lip. Okay? No, not really…but it seemed like this pain was going to be the price I had to pay for the joy of having Nessie in my life at all. I adored her, but she was always going to be the living embodiment of everything I had wanted and had had to give up, and I was beginning to realise that I was in for a lifetime of bittersweet loving of that little girl. I shrugged and stood on tiptoes to press my lips against the hollow of Emmett’s throat.

“Haven’t we experimented enough for one day?” Jacob asked, his voice high with anxiety. “Okay, Bella’s doing great, but let’s not push it.”

Bella glared at him with more animosity than I’d ever seen her show. “What is your _problem,_ Jacob?” she demanded, and I couldn’t hold back my anticipatory grin. _Oh yes, Jacob…how about you tell Bella EXACTLY what your problem is?_

“Just because I understand, it doesn’t mean I won’t throw you out Jacob,” Edward snapped. “Bella’s doing extraordinarily well. Don’t ruin the moment for her.”

“I’ll help him toss you, dog,” I growled. “I owe you a good kick in the gut.” Yes, okay, he’d got me away from Bella’s blood when things were looking bad, but that didn’t mean I was pleased with the memory of his assault.

Jacob’s eyes flickered from Bella back to Renesmee. He was pressed up beside her, in the middle of a crowd of vampires, and yet still he didn’t seem able to help himself as he reached towards Renesmee. I saw Bella’s eyes narrow as she thought, and I could tell the minute it all clicked in her mind because her eyes blazed as she hissed, “NO!”

Jacob had Renesmee out of her arms before we could blink, and Edward wrapped restraining arms around Bella while Jasper pushed closer to her in order to calm her down. But Bella wasn’t out of control, despite the glittering eyes and clenched teeth, as she looked at me and said, very precisely, “Rose. Take Renesmee.”

With an angelic smile I held out my arms and Jacob handed Rensemee to me immediately, looking tortured. Both of us immediately backed away from Bella, although I made sure to stay within sight of Jacob- after all his insults I was more than ready to see the dog get his just desserts, and it looked like mama bear Bella was going to be the one to deliver them.

“Edward, I don’t want to hurt you, so please let me go.” Bella’s voice was smooth and polite, at odds with the slight tremor of rage I could see in her clenched fists. “Why don’t you go and stand in front of Renesmee?”

After a second’s hesitation Edward complied. Bella dropped to a hunting crouch and advanced menacingly on Jacob. “You didn’t,” she snarled.

He backed away, hands up in helpless surrender. “You know it’s not something I can control,” he said pleadingly.

“You _stupid mutt!_ How _could_ you? _My baby!”_

Jacob had backed away so far he was out the front door, Bella stalking after him. The rest of us followed- Carlisle and Esme with concern, the rest of just keen to enjoy the show.

“It wasn’t my idea, Bella!”

“I’ve held her all of _one_ time, and already you think you have some moronic wolfy claim to her? She’s _mine!”_

“I can share?” Jacob offered weakly.

Behind me I heard Emmett snicker. “Pay up,” he said to Alice who, for once unable to see anything since it involved Jacob, had taken the ridiculous idea that Bella _wouldn’t_ be completely enraged at the idea and had bet against Emmett.

“How dare you _imprint_ on _my_ baby! Have you lost your mind?”

From the doorway, I held Renesmee and watched with delight as the previously plain, quiet, and self-effacing Bella Swan became a magnificent raging vampire. And all her ire was directed at that obnoxious, horrible Jacob Black…oh, it was a beautiful sight!

In my arms, Renesmee held on to my ear and replayed the scene she was watching, all tinged with her own concern. I patted her reassuringly and bounced her lightly. “It’s okay Ness,” I said. “Your momma is just teaching Jacob a lesson…he’ll be okay.” _Unfortunately,_ I added silently.

Two wolves came pacing out of the forest to stand poised behind Jacob. Seth and Leah come to join in the fun- this was just getting better and better.

Leah’s lip was drawn back over her teeth and she snapped in Bella’s direction. Bella responded with a fearsome snarl, not pausing in her measured pacing toward Jacob who was still holding up his hands and trying to talk.

“Bella, would you try to listen for just a second? Please?” he begged. “Leah, back off,” he added desperately.

“Why should I listen?” Bella hissed.

“Because you’re the one who told me this. Do you remember? You said we belonged in each other’s lives, right? That we were a family. You said that was how you and I were supposed to be. So…now we are. It’s what you wanted.”

I snorted, but the sound was drowned out by Bella’s furious shriek. “You think you’ll be part of my family as my _son-in-law!”_

Emmett laughed gleefully. I don’t think he’d enjoyed a family scene more since the time I threw Edward through a wall during an argument over Monopoly back in 1938.

“Stop her Edward,” Esme said anxiously. “She’ll be unhappy if she hurts him.”

“No! How can you even look at it that way? She’s just a baby, for crying out loud!”

“That’s my _point!”_

“You know I don’t think of her that way!” Jacob shouted. “Do you think Edward would have let me live this long if I did? All I want is for her to be safe and happy- is that so bad? So different from what you want?”

Beyond words for a moment Bella just shrieked, before she collected herself enough to hiss, “You’re going to stay away from her.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Try!” Bella said through gritted teeth. “Starting _now.”_

I smiled smugly. No more stinky mutt cluttering up the house- _thank you Bella!_

“It’s not possible. Do you remember how much you wanted me around three days ago? How hard it was to be apart from each other? That’s gone for you now, isn’t it?” Jacob looked at her imploringly. “That was her. From the very beginning. We had to be together, even then.”

Bella scowled furiously, clearly not buying his story. “Run away while you still can.”

“C’mon Bells!” Jacob protested. “Nessie likes me, too.”

There was a moment of frozen silence, broken by Bella’s low, enraged voice. “ _What_ …did you call her?”

Jacob looked sheepish and took another step backwards. “Well, that name you came up with is kind of mouthful and-“

Bella’s shout could probably have been heard in Forks. “You nicknamed my daughter after the _Loch Ness Monster?”_ she screeched.

And only _then_ did she pounce.

 


	24. Bella's Birthday

Incredibly, Jacob didn’t even phase to protect himself. Instead it was Seth who hurled himself in between Jacob and Bella, and Seth who wound up the first victim of Bella’s new vampire strength. Everyone listening winced at the crack that rang through the air as Seth’s bones were broken under the force of Bella’s attack- we had all come to like the young wolf, even me.

Edward, Emmett and Jasper intervened, seizing Bella and, between the three of them, pulling her away before Leah could get involved and things could get worse. Bella was completely dismayed once Jasper had her calm and she realised what she’d done, and she went down on her knees beside the whimpering animal with a distressed cry.

“Oh Seth, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“Can you phase back?” Carlisle asked calmly. “It will be easier to treat you once you’re human.”

The air around the wolf shimmered, and then it was Seth lying on the grass, sweating and pale. “’S’okay Bella,” he muttered. “You didn’t mean it.”

“Come inside Seth,” Carlisle instructed, gently helping the boy to his feet and into the pair of shorts that Esme had helpfully whisked away and found to protect his modesty. As if we weren’t all completely indifferent to the sight of naked Quileutes in the yard by now! Seth groaned as he stood up and it was clear even from where I stood that his shoulder was dislocated, possibly broken, and his collarbone had snapped in to at least three pieces. “Fortunately we’ve got x-ray facilities here now, and I can reset that and brace it for you. You’ll be fine in no time.”

Carlisle and Edward helped Seth stumble towards the house. Bella moved anxiously after them, still trying to apologise, as Jasper walked quietly at her side. I moved well out of the way as they passed through the doorway, taking Renesmee and jumping down on to the lawn and over to Emmett.

“Well, I suppose this gives us a chance to go and finish off the cottage,” Esme said. “Rose, you can stay with Ness and tell Bella that Alice and Emmett and I have gone hunting.”

Alice clapped her hands. “Oh, I can’t wait to see Bella’s face!”

Emmett looked less enthusiastic about the idea of interior decorating. “Do I have to?”

I covered Renesmee’s ears. “Do you want Bella and Edward having their first vampire night together in the room next to us? Because I can _certainly_ live without that.”

Emmett snorted. “Okay, point taken. Let’s go ladies, I feel a sudden urge for some interior design.”

Laughing, the three of them took off in a graceful run towards the cottage that Esme had renovated and refurbished for Bella and Edward. I resettled Renesmee in my arms, tickling her to make her laugh, and then holding her hand against my face as she showed me Bella.

“Momma is inside,” I told her. “You’ll see her in a little while.” I carried the baby over to the porch, where Jacob was sitting on the top step and watching the two of us.

“I’ll take her,” he said, jumping to his feet as I approached. “She’ll be getting hungry soon, I’ll give her a bottle. You know it’s easier for me to feed her blood than it is for you.”

“Oh, bite me,” I said irritably. “I’m fine. I’ll wait until after Carlisle does his measurements and then I’ll get Renesmee a bottle.”

“I think we should keep her away from Bella,” Jacob prattled on. “Her temper seems kind of uncertain, and I wouldn’t want Ness to get caught in the middle...”

Sitting down on the top stop I bounced Nessie on my knee and tried to tune him out as I sang to her. However when Jacob dropped down on the step beside me I couldn’t help stopping my song to look at him with long suffering dislike. “ _Must_ you sit right there?” I asked. “Look around you Jacob- we’re alone in the wilderness here. There are a thousand places for you to lie down and scratch your fleas, and you insist on sitting right beside me?”

“Hey, I’m not keeping you here,” Jacob muttered. “Let me feed Ness and you can go and hang out with the rest of the leeches wherever you like.”

 _“I was thinking about Charlie actually.”_ Bella’s voice, low and sad, came clearly out to the porch, and both Jacob and I stopped sniping to listen. “We really have to leave, don’t we?” she said plaintively. “For a while, at the very least. Pretend we’re in Atlanta or something.”

It was Jasper how answered her. “Yes. It’s the only way to protect your father.”

“I’m going to miss him so much,” Bella said softly. “I’ll miss everyone here.”

Beside me, Jacob looked troubled. While I couldn’t wait until his infuriating presence was gone from my life, I couldn’t dismiss the pain I knew he would feel at losing Renesmee when we all moved on. Much as I disliked him, much as I resented the imprint that he felt had given him some profound claim to the baby, I couldn’t deny that in the present Jacob loved Renesmee with a pure and devoted love that the baby already returned.

Wordlessly I rose to my feet and entered the house, Ness in my arms, so Carlisle could carry out his regular measurements. Bella looked longingly at us from the sofa but made no move to approach.

“You do this every day?” Bella asked.

“Four times a day,” Carlisle corrected absently as he beckoned me over and began his rapid measurements as Renesmee gave a quiet sigh.

“Four times? Every day? _WHY?”_

“She’s still growing quickly,” Edward said, his voice strained. He wrapped an arm around Bella ad his eyes met mine. I bit my lip as I noted the measurements Carlisle and mentally added them to my list, knowing Edward was reading the measurements from Carlisle and I.

Bella stared, for a moment so blinded by the perfect beauty of her daughter that she could not see the problem. I saw the dawning realisation in her face though, as she looked at Renesmee and noted the changes that had occurred in the hour since she’d met her. The baby was growing fast, too fast. If this rate of growth held steady…

“What do we do?” she whispered, horrified.

Edward’s face was bleak. “I don’t know.”

“It’s slowing,” Jacob said through gritted teeth.

“We’ll need several more days of measurements to track the trend Jacob,” Carlisle said reasonably. “I can’t make any promises.”

“Yesterday she grew two inches. Today it’s less,” Jacob said stubbornly.

“By a thirty-second of an inch, if my measurements are perfect,” Carlisle said quietly. He wanted it to be true as much as anyone, but he was a scientist and would wait for proof.

“ _Be_ perfect, Doc,” Jacob muttered.

I hissed. I couldn’t help it- where did he get off criticising _Carlisle_ , of all people, and telling him to be perfect? Like the dog had a leg to stand on, with his sloppy manners and haphazard messiness…

“You know I’ll do my best,” Carlisle said, unoffended.

Renesmee started to squirm and then reached out an imperious hand which I obligingly leaned towards so she could touch me.

“What does she want?” Jacob demanded.

I sighed. “Bella, of course.” I looked across at her. “How are you?”

“Worried,” Bella admitted glumly.

“We all are,” I said to her. “But that’s not what I meant.”

“I’m in control,” Bella assured me. Her eyes lit up as I held out Renesmee to her, and even as it hurt I had to smile to see the way Ness stretched out towards her when Bella took her in her arms.

It was so hard to believe that Bella was a newborn. Thinking about her not only resisting the lure of human blood, but breaking away from an instinct driven hunt, was almost unbelievable. She was so well controlled with her emotions and looked so _normal_ standing there and smiling at Renesmee, absorbed in her daughter, that it seemed impossible to grasp that she was so newly turned. I remembered my own tumultuous early vampire days, all the tempers and tantrums and destruction and the brutality of the thirst, and felt a stab of ashamed inadequacy.

I wasn’t the only one. Jasper had been watching too, his hands bunched in fists at his sides. “I can’t understand,” he said at last. “I can’t bear this.” Without looking at anyone he strode out the back door and disappeared over the river and into the forest.

“He’ll be back,” Edward said carelessly. “He just needs a moment alone to readjust his perspective on life.”

A grin threatened at the corners of his mouth and I felt a flare of irritation with him on Jasper’s behalf. Where was his compassion? It was wonderful that Bella was coping so well, but one afternoon shouldn’t overshadow the years of effort Jasper had put in. Edward had never placed enough importance on the emotions Jasper absorbed from the rest of us either- he didn’t feel our thirst but the emotions of desire and desperation that went along with it could be near overwhelming for him at times.

“Is he mad at me?” Bella asked.

Edward’s eyes widened. “No. Why would he be?”

“What’s the matter with him then?”

“He’s upset with himself, not you, Bella,” Edward said. “He’s worrying about…self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose you could say.”

“How so?” Carlisle asked, interested.

“He’s wondering if the newborn madness is really as difficult as we’ve always thought, or if, with the right focus and attitude, anyone could do as well as Bella. Even now- perhaps he only has such difficulty because he believes it’s natural and unavoidable. Maybe if he expected more of himself, he would rise to those expectations. You’re making him question a lot of deep-rooted assumptions, Bella.”

“But that’s unfair,” Carlisle said sympathetically. “Everyone is different, everyone has their own challenges. Perhaps what Bella’s doing goes beyond the natural. Maybe this is her gift, so to speak.”

Carlisle, Edward and I fell into a discussion about the nature of vampire gifts versus enhanced human traits, giving Bella some time to engage with Renesmee without feeling under the microscope of our concern. I couldn’t help watching out of the corner of my eyes though, seeing her completely enraptured by the tiny girl that already had everyone in the house wrapped around her fingers.

Renesmee was asleep in Bella’s arms and the sky outside was dark when we heard the approaching footsteps of the others. I looked outside with a smile, watching Emmett, Alice, Esme and Jasper come leaping over the river and bounding up to the house.

Alice skipped inside, her face beaming as she dropped a brass key tied with a pink satin bow into Bella’s hand. “Happy birthday!” she cried happily.

Bella rolled her eyes. “No one starts counting on the actual day of birth. Your first birthday is at the year mark, Alice.”

Alice’s grin was smug. “We’re not celebrating your vampire birthday. Yet. It’s September thirteenth Bella. Happy nineteenth birthday!”

“No! No way!” Bella shook her head frantically. “No, this doesn’t count. I stopped aging three days ago. I am eighteen forever.”

I couldn’t help laughing. She was still thinking in human terms about age…she’d learn.

“Whatever,” Alice said lightly. “We’re celebrating anyway, so suck it up.” Her grin widened. “Are you ready to open your present?”

“Present _s_ ,” Edward corrected, taking a second key from his pocket. Oh, the ‘after’ car…I thought about the red Ferrari with longing.

“Mine first,” Alice insisted.

“Mine is closer.”

“But look how she’s _dressed_!.” Alice wailed. “It’s been killing me all day! _That_ is clearly the priority.” She narrowed her eyes at Edward. “I know- I’ll play you for it. Rock, paper, scissors.”

Jasper chuckled and Edward sighed. “Why don’t you just tell me who wins?”

“I do. Excellent.” Alice beamed.

“It’s probably better that I wait for morning, anyway.” Edward nodded towards Jacob, asleep on the sofa. “I think it might be more fun if Jacob was awake for the big reveal, don’t you agree? So that someone there is able to express the right level of enthusiasm?”

“Yay!” Alice clapped her hands gleefully. “Bella, give Ness- Renesmee to Rosalie.”

“Where does she usually sleep?”

“In Rose’s arms. Or Jacob’s. Or Esme’s. You get the picture. She has never been set down in her entire life. She’s going to be the most spoiled half vampire in existence.”

I stuck my tongue out at Alice and scooped Ness out of Bella’s arms. “She is also the most _un_ spoiled half vampire in existence. The beauty of being one of a kind.” I grinned at Bella and she grinned back. I was happy to see that the new friendship and understanding we had developed during her pregnancy had survived her change.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Alice chirped excitedly, grabbing Bella’s empty arm and tugging her eagerly towards the door.

“Is it outside?” Bella asked doubtfully.

“Sort of,” Alice said with a giggle.

“Enjoy your gift,” I said. “It’s from all of us. Esme especially.” I smiled across at Esme who beamed modestly.

“Aren’t you coming too?” Bella asked, looking back at Renesmee and I uncertainly.

“We’ll give you a chance to appreciate it alone,” I said, holding back my smirk. “You can tell us about it…later.”

Emmett had no such restraint, and from behind me I heard his devilish laugh. Giggling, I kicked him. “Stop.”

Bella and Edward disappeared into the night with Alice. Emmett, obviously thinking dirty thoughts bought on by the idea of private honeymoon cottages, looked at me holding Renesmee and sighed.

Jasper, who had been looking morose, looked over at him and laughed. “Chess?” he offered with a grin, and the two of them began setting out the boards.

Renesmee had been playing with the beads on my necklace, but now she touched my face and reminded me that she was thirsty. “Milk or blood?” I asked her, and with a very unbabylike frown she showed me an image of myself emptying one of the blood bags in to her bottle. “Blood it is then.”


	25. Bending the Rules

The sky above the trees was beginning to change from black to grey with the dawn light when I finished my book and sat up from where I had been lying with my head in Emmett’s lap as he watched tv. I looked around for Ness and found her peacefully asleep in Esme’s lap as Esme and Carlisle talked quietly over her head, Jacob sprawled in a nearby armchair with his eyes trained on the baby. Jasper was reading, and Alice was on the computer again. I could tell from the gleam in her eye that she was shopping.

“So I was thinking that there’s not much keeping us here in Forks now,” Emmett said casually, loud enough so that everyone looked up and paid attention. “Bella’s changed, the baby monster seems pretty portable- and actually they’re two big reasons why we should get out of here. How do we explain vampire Bella if anyone sees her now?”

Esme looked a little worried. “There’s Charlie to consider.”

“We will have to give him some explanation soon,” Carlisle acknowledged. “He won’t be put off by my explanations that Bella is sick and contagious much longer.”

“Moving on has always been the plan,” Jasper said practically. “It’s just a matter of where. Carlisle?”

Carlisle hesitated. “I’m not sure honestly, Jasper. We had been planning on needing at least a year for Bella to learn to control herself and become accustomed to what she is now, but that may not be necessary.”

Alice shook her head. “Completely unnecessary Carlisle- as far as I can see her she’s got things well in hand.”

“I think we should go to New Hampshire,” Emmett suggested. “Bella’s registered at Dartmouth already, Rosalie still has a deferred place there if she wants to take it up- we should get going and get things set up.”

Jacob suddenly rose to his feet and stormed out the door, his face like thunder. Emmett looked after him in surprise. “What’s his problem?”

“Where should I start?” I murmured sarcastically, breathing deeply. “Ahh, fresh, untainted air…”

Emmett laughed and reached for me. “Are you ever going to stop giving the poor mutt such a hard time?”

“Of course,” I said, sliding my legs over to sit on his thighs. “When we’re in New Hampshire I won’t be in the least bit nasty to him, since he’ll be in a different state. And I’m hardly going to start a pen pal relationship with him just to throw insults and listen to all his wretched blonde jokes.”

Emmett’s hands caught in my hair. “Blondes are my favourite,” he said teasingly.

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I don’t want to hear about your man-crush on Jasper, thanks.”

Emmett growled and his teeth came down on my tongue. “Man crush? You’re demeaning my feelings for Jasper by calling it a man-crush?”

I would have laughed, but Emmett kissed me in a way that wiped everything else out of my mind but how much I wanted him.

Half a second later Jasper cleared his throat loudly and pointedly. “Emmett and Rosalie….excuse me?”

I opened bleary eyes to see Emmett flipping Jasper off over the sofa with the hand that wasn’t trying to work its way under my shirt. “Huh?”

“Edward might not be here to hear your thoughts, but I feel your emotions,” Jasper said with exaggerated patience. “How about you take that somewhere else before the clothes start coming off, hmm?”

“Happily,” Emmett shot back and, with his hands under my ass and keeping my legs wrapped around his waist, he had me upstairs before my embarrassment had caught up with me.

“Emmett!”

“Mmmhmm?” Emmett kept one arm under my ass and pulled my shirt off with his other hand, gazing hungrily at the black lace bra I wore underneath. “Oh, nice…you buy this one for me?”

“Thought you might like it,” I muttered, gripping his hips tighter with my thighs and rubbing against him.

“Matching knickers?” Emmett dropped me onto the bed and removed my trousers in the same movement. “Oh yes, you did…” He kicked off his jeans and yanked off his t-shirt with typical Emmett haste. “Very nice.”

I reached for him. “You do like the traditional,” I said teasingly.

“Jesus, is that traditional?” Emmett gasped when he could finally talk again. “I don’t know…either way I like that a lot…sweet hell, Rosa girl!”

I laughed raggedly, kissing my way up his body until I reached his mouth, and loving the feel of all that solid muscle and smooth skin and bulky masculinity under my lips and hands. “Love you…”

“My pretty girl,” Emmett whispered against my mouth, and then he was stretched out on his back and positioning me over the top of him so that as I slid down I took him into me with a low whimper of pleasure. I loved the way he watched me with eyes full desire and worship, I loved the way the muscles of his belly rippled with his own arousal, I loved that I could make him moan and pant and beg, and oh, when I writhed against him and he touched me in just the right way to make me come I loved that too. _I love all of you, Emmett._

We were dressed again and back downstairs by the time Renesmee woke. She stretched her arms towards me imperiously and I took her from Esme with a hug. “Good morning Nessie.”

She showed me that she’d had a dream, and then showed me Bella and Edward, mutely asking where they were. “In the cottage,” I told her cheerfully. “We’ll call them…soon.” I couldn’t help but smile to myself, wondering how much the newlyweds would welcome any interruption. “Here- play with this.” I sat down the floor beside her, handing over the chunky bead necklace I was wearing. Renesmee’s cognition might be amazing, but she still liked to play with shiny things like any baby.

Renesmee broke the string and then played with the beads, alternately laying them out in complex patterns and then tapping my knee and asking for Bella. Esme brought out an unused set of silverware and that kept Renesmee happy for a little longer, as she twisted the silver utensils into new and interesting shapes. When she saw Bella and Edward approaching through the glass wall she hurled away the spoon and pointed majestically at Bella, making the rest of us laugh.

Bella bounded into the room and scooped her daughter up. I could see her eyes, assessing the changes that had taken place during the night. “How long as she been up?”

“Just a few minutes,” I said. “We would have called you soon. She’s been asking for you – _demanding_ might be a better description. Esme sacrificed her second best silver to keep the little monster entertained.” I smiled at Renesmee and the baby dimpled back at. “We didn’t want to…er, bother you.” I looked away, biting my lip and trying not to laugh.

“We’ll get your room set up right away,” Bella said to the baby. “You’ll like the cottage. It’s magic. Thank you Esme, so much. It’s absolutely perfect.”

Despite the glare I sent his way, Emmett started laughing. “So it’s still standing? I would have thought you two would have knocked it to rubble by now. What were you doing last night? Discussing the national debt?”

Bella gritted her teeth and then ignored him. “Where’re the wolves today?” she asked me.

I sniffed scornfully. “Jacob took off this morning, pretty early. Seth followed him out.”

“What was he so upset about?” Edward asked curiously, returning to the living room with Renesmee’s bottle. I noticed Bella immediately stop breathing as she handed the baby to me- I guess even her super self control had limits and a bottle of blood was probably beyond it.

“I don’t know- or care,” I said snippily, taking Ness and the bottle and settling into the sofa to feed her. “He was watching Nessie sleep, his mouth hanging open like the moron he is, and then just jumped to his feet without any kind of trigger – that I noticed, anyway – and stormed out. _I_ was glad to be rid of him. The more time he spends here, the less chance there is that we’ll ever get the smell out.”

“Rose,” Esme reprimanded gently.

I rolled my eyes. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. We won’t be here that much longer.”

“I still say we should go straight to New Hampshire,” Emmett said, continuing the earlier discussion. “Bella’s already registered at Dartmouth. Doesn’t look like it will take her all that long to be able to handle school.” He gave her a mocking grin. “I’m sure you’ll ace your classes…apparently there’s nothing interesting for you to do at night besides study.”

I couldn’t help giggling. Just because everyone wasn’t as blatant as HE was about such things!

Much to my surprise Edward growled then, a furious snarl of anger, and Emmett’s eyes widened and he held his hands up in immediate surrender.

“Just a joke…” he began, but then Alice jumped to her feet and stamped and we realised that Edward’s rage had nothing to do with Emmett at all.

“What is he _doing?_ What is that _dog_ doing that has erased my schedule for the entire day? I can’t see _anything!_ No!” She gave Bella a tortured glance. “Look at you! You _need_ me to show you how to use your closet!”

“He talked to Charlie,” Edward snapped. “He thinks Charlie is following after him. Coming here. Today.”

Alice swore and was gone, racing out the rear door in blur of motion.

Bella looked horrified. “He told Charlie? But- doesn’t he understand? How could he do that? No!”

I was shocked. Whilst I’d never credited that bone-headed Jacob with a great deal of intelligence, I would not have thought he would have consciously put someone in danger. But Charlie Swan knowing the truth about Bella and our vampire world could spell disaster.

Jacob came in the door moment later, shaking his wet hair like the dog he was, tense and edgy with excitement. “Hey guys,” he said, as though he hadn’t just broken decades of trust with his latest stunt.

“Rose,” Bella said quietly, holding out her arms. Silently I passed the baby over, and Bella held her gently, kissing the silky curls as her red eyes focussed on Jacob intently.

“Charlie’ll be here soon,” Jacob said casually. “Just a heads-up. I assume Alice is getting you sunglasses or something?”

As though Bella’s red eyes were the biggest problem with this plan?!

“You assume _way_ too much,” she hissed. “What. Have. You. _Done?”_

For a moment Jacob’s smile faltered. “Blondie and Emmett woke me up this morning going on and on about you all moving cross-country. Like I could let you leave. Charlie was the biggest issue there right? Well, problem solved.”

“Do you even realise what you’ve done? The danger you’ve put him in?”

Jacob snorted derisively. “I didn’t put him in danger. Except from you. But you’ve got some kind of supernatural self-control, right? Not as good as mind reading, if you ask me. Much less exciting.”

In a blur of motion, Edward was suddenly inches away from Jacob’s face, his jaw clenched in rage. “That’s just a _theory_ , mongrel! You think we should test it out on _Charlie_? Did you consider the physical pain you’re putting Bella through, even if she can resist? Or the emotional pain if she doesn’t? I suppose what happens to Bella no longer concerns you!”

Jacob frowned, bewildered. “Bella will be in pain?”

“Like you’ve shoved a white-hot branding iron down her throat!”

“I didn’t know that,” Jacob whispered, abashed.

“Then perhaps you should have asked first!” Edward snapped.

 “This isn’t about me,” Bella interrupted them, standing very tall and glaring at both of them. “This is about Charlie, Jacob. How could you put him in danger this way? Do you realise it’s death or vampire life for him now, too?” Her voice trembled with the intensity of her emotion.

Jacob didn’t seem overly troubled by Bella’s words. “Relax Bella. I didn’t tell him anything you weren’t planning to tell him.”

“But he’s coming here!”

“Yeah, that’s the idea. Wasn’t the whole ‘let him make the wrong assumptions’ thing your plan? I think I provided a nice red herring, if I do say so myself.”

Belle’s hands made fists. “Say it straight, Jacob.”

“I didn’t tell him anything about you, Bella. Not really. I told him about _me._ Well, _show_ is probably a better verb.”

“He phased in front of Charlie,” Edward hissed.

I suddenly imagined what it must have been like for the quiet, pragmatic Charlie Swan to have Jacob turn into a wolf in front of his eyes and drew in a sharp breath.

“He’s brave,” Jacob said. “Brave as you are. Didn’t pass out or throw up or anything. I gotta say, I was impressed. You should’ve seen his face when I started my clothes off though. Priceless.”

“You absolute _moron!_ You could have given him a heart attack!”

“If you’d give this just a minute, you’ll see that I did you a favour here.”

“You have half of that, Jacob,” Bella snapped. “You have thirty seconds to tell me every single word before I give Renesmee to Rosalie and rip your miserable head off. Seth won’t be able to stop me this time.”

Damn. Why wait, Bella?

“I phased. And then I phased back and got dressed and said, ‘Charlie, you don’t live in the world you thought you lived in. The good news is, nothing has changed- except that you know. Life’ll go on the same way it always has. You can go right back to pretending that you don’t believe any of this.’” Jacob paused. “I told him you _had_ been sick, but you were better now- it was just that in the process of getting better you’d had to…change a bit. He asked if you turned into an animal too. And I said, ‘She wishes she was that cool!’” Jacob chuckled.

I gagged. _Oh yeah, turning into some hairy animal…so cool._

“Charlie said he’d rather not know the specifics. He just wanted to see you, and I said that it would be better if he gave me a head start to explain stuff. He also asked that he be told as little as possible about everything. Need to know, only.” Jacob smiled smugly at Bella.

“And Renesmee?” Bella asked.

“I told him that you and Edward had inherited a little mouth to feed. She’s your orphaned ward – like Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.” Jacob snorted. “I didn’t think you’d mind me lying. It’s all part of the game, right?”

I dug my fingernails into my palms to stop myself from hitting him. A game? This fucking _game_ was our life…

“Charlie was way past being shocked at this point,” Jacob continued easily. “He did ask if you were adopting her. ‘Like a daughter? Like I’m sort of a grandfather?’ and I told him yes. ‘Congrats, Gramps’ and all that. He even smiled a bit.”

“But she’s changing so fast,” Bella whispered.

Jacob shrugged, and his eyes on the baby were soft. “I told him that she was more special than all of us put together.” He reached towards Renesmee, but Bella pulled her daughter closer to her and away from his reach. “I told him if he could deal with that, you would all stick around for a while and he would have a chance to get to know her.”

“I’m not going to say thank you,” Bella said stiffly. “You’re still putting Charlie at huge risk.”

“I _am_ sorry about it hurting you,” Jacob muttered. “I didn’t know it was like that. Bella, things are different with us now, but you’ll always be my best friend, and I’ll always love you. But I’ll love you the right way now. There’s finally a balance. We _both_ have people we can’t live without.” He smiled at her winningly. “Still friends?”

Bella’s eyes were still narrowed but the corners of her mouth curved up, just a little, and she and Jacob smiled at each other. She forgave him.

_Goddamnit. We’re stuck with him._


	26. The Things We Lose

Alice came speeding back into the room with her hands full. “Get out of the way,” she snapped at Jacob.

Bella handed Ness to Jacob and turned to Edward with a look of panic on her face. He smiled reassuringly and stroked her face.

“You can do this. I know you can. I’ll help you; we all will. If I didn’t believe you could handle it, we’d disappear today. This very minute. But you can. And you’ll be happier if you can have Charlie in your life,” he said gently.

Bella nodded, and automatically caught the tiny box of contact lenses that Alice threw to her.

“These will irritate your eyes – they won’t hurt, but they’ll cloud your vision. It’s annoying. They also won’t match your old colour, but it’s still better than bright red, right?”

Bella nodded and carefully pressed the contacts to her eyes, blinking at us with her newborn red eyes transformed to a more human looking brown.

“How do I look?”

Edward smiled. “Gorgeous. Of course-“

“Yes, yes,” Alice muttered impatiently. “She always looks gorgeous. It’s better than red, but that’s the highest commendation I can give. Muddy brown. Your brown was much prettier. Keep in mind that those won’t last forever- the venom in your eyes will dissolve them in a few hours. So if Charlie stays longer than that, you’ll have to excuse yourself to replace them. Which is a good idea anyway, because humans need bathroom breaks.” Alice shook her head. “Esme, give her a few pointers on acting human while I stock the powder room with contacts.”

“The main thing is not to sit too still or move too fast,” Esme said to Bella.

“Sit down if he does,” Emmett interrupted. “Humans don’t like to just stand there.”

“Let your eyes wander every thirty seconds or so,” Jasper suggested. “Humans don’t stare at one thing for too long.”

“Cross your legs for about five minutes, then switch to crossing your ankles for the next five,” I offered.

“And blink at least three times a minute,” Emmett instructed. He flipped on the tv and turned it to a football game. I suppose he felt he’d given Bella his best advice and now it was up to her.

“Move your hands too. Brush your hair back, or pretend to scratch or something,” Jasper said.

“I said _Esme_ ,” Alice complained as she returned. “You’ll overwhelm her.”

“No, I think I got it all,” Bella mused. “Sit, look around, blink, fidget.”

“Right!” Esme said approvingly.

Jasper frowned. “You’ll be holding your breath as much as possible, but you need to move your shoulders a little make it look like you’re breathing.”

Edward hugged her. “You can do this.”

“Two minutes!” Alice said. “Maybe you should start out on the couch. You’ve been sick, after all. That way he won’t have to see you move right at first.”

Bella took Renesmee on to her lap and sat down on the sofa. Edward took a seat beside her and looked Ness seriously in her eyes. “Renesmee, someone special is coming to see you and your mother,” he told her. “But he’s not like us, or even like Jacob. We have to be very careful with him. You shouldn’t tell him things the way you tell us.” Renesmee leaned over and touched his face, and Edward smiled. “Exactly. And he’s going to make you thirsty. But you mustn’t bite him. He won’t heal like Jacob.”

  We all heard the sound of Charlie’s cruiser turning off the highway and on to our driveway, approaching the house at the slow rate that everyone unfamiliar with the twisty dirt road drove along it. Suddenly realising how odd we would look all bunched around Bella we dispersed, trying to find something to do to make things look more natural. Emmett and Jasper sat down to watch the game on tv, deliberately keeping close to Bella in case they needed to avert a crisis. Alice and I sat at the table with the laptop and some magazines, and after a moment Esme joined us. Jacob, the only one who seemed even remotely relaxed, grinned at Bella from the corner as we heard the cruiser pull up out the front, and the heavy tread of Charlie’s boots crossing the porch.

“Hello Charlie,” Carlisle greeted him at the door.

“Carlisle,” Charlie grunted, sounding less than happy. “Where’s Bella?”

“Right here, Dad.”

We all watched, as unobtrusively as possible, although I don’t know how Charlie could have been unaware of the crackling tension in the room. Charlie didn’t look at any of us though as his eyes sought out Bella and then froze, taking in the ice white, perfect beauty of the person who claimed to be the daughter he’d said goodbye to on her honeymoon only weeks ago.

“Is that you Bella?”

“Yes,” Bella smiled tentatively. “It’s really me…I’m sorry Dad.”

“Are you okay?” he wanted to know.

Bella nodded fervently. “I am. Really and truly okay.”

“Jake said that this was…necessary. This…change. That you were dying.”

Bella hesitated. “Jake was telling you the truth.”

“At least one of you was,” Charlie muttered, staring balefully at Edward. I could imagine how much he resented the worry and stress he’d been put through during the last few weeks. But then his eyes caught on Renesmee, and his irritation turned to shock. “Oh…this is her.”

“My niece,” Edward said smoothly.

“You gonna make me a grandpa so young?”

Edward smiled. “Carlisle is a grandfather, too.” I hid my grin.

Charlie snorted. “I guess that does make me feel a bit better. She sure is something to look at.”

Renesmee, who had been half hiding in Bella’s hair, leaned towards Charlie and smiled at him for the first time. He took in her face and her eyes- Bella’s eyes- and all colour drained from his face and his hands started trembling.

We all froze, except Jacob. He went to Charlie and patted him reassuringly on his shoulder, leaning in to whisper, “Need to know, Charlie. It’s okay. I promise.”

Charlie swallowed, thinking hard. A moment he looked at Edward with hard eyes. “I don’t want to know everything, but I’m done with the lies!”

“I’m sorry,” Edward said softly. “But you need to know the public story more than you need to know the truth. If you’re going to be part of this secret, the public story is the one that counts. It’s to protect Bella and Renesmee as well as the rest of us. Can you go along with the lies for them?”

Charlie huffed and turned his face back to Bella. “You might’ve given me some warning kid.” He grunted and knelt on the floor in front of Ness, who smiled at him engagingly. Taken aback by the mouthful of teeth, Charlie asked suspiciously, “How old is she?”

“Three months,” Edward answered, adding slowly, “Rather, she’s the size of a three month old, more or less. She’s younger in some ways, more mature in others.”

Renesmee waved at Charlie, very deliberately, her eyes sparkling. For a minute he looked nothing more than terrified, but then he smiled slowly and I saw him relax. Once again, Nessie seemed to have woven her magic spell, and although Charlie still didn’t look comfortable he no longer looked like he wanted to run.

“Woo!” Emmett’s deep voice broke the suddenly awkward silence. “Go Gators!”

Charlie jumped, and then looked at Emmett. He took in his massive size- even slouched on a sofa Emmett was formidable- and then his eyes took in the equally impressively sized flatscreen television and he took a deep breath and said casually, “Florida winning?”

“Just scored the first touchdown,” Emmett answered. I saw him look at Bella with a mischievous grin. “’Bout time somebody scored around here.”

If looks could kill….Bella hissed furiously at Emmett, but Charlie didn’t even blink. He looked exhausted, well beyond noticing Emmett’s sly innuendos. He lurched to his feet and fell into a vacant chair with a slight moan. “Well, I guess we should see if they can hold on to the lead.”

After all of Bella’s panic, after all the time spent discussing how to deal with the Charlie issue…that was it. Charlie Swan had caught a peek behind the door and into the shadow world inhabited by the monsters and the fey, and had willingly turned his back on it. Bella was welcome to join him in his human world and he would ask no questions about the rest of it. He loved his daughter enough that he was willing to accept that Jacob Black turned into a giant dog and that a three month old baby sat up and followed conversations with the eyes of his daughter, if that was what it took to keep her.

I watched, my heart aching, as Bella sat with her baby on her lap and her husband on one side of her and her father on the other. And I was jealous, with bitterness mixed in with an endlessly deep grief, for all the things that I had never, _would_ never, have.

I left the room after a time, discreetly slipping away into the kitchen and then going out to the garage. My place. For once it didn’t offer the same solace though- as despite the professional detailing I could still smell the tell-tale odour of vomit in my BMW; and Bella’s new red Ferrari sat at the end of the row, silently mocking me for being jealous of her shiny new life. Morosely I sat on the workbench, my arms around my shins and my chin resting thoughtfully on my knees.

Jasper came silently out behind me, leaned against Emmett’s Jeep with his arms folded and regarded me thoughtfully. I ignored him for a moment and then met his eyes defensively.

“I know…I’m a horrible bitch, you don’t have to tell me.”

Jasper smiled and tipped an imaginary hat to me. “Why must you always jump to conclusions Rosalie? I came out here to say no such thing.”

I sighed as I felt the tendrils of calm emanating from him. Not enough to feel manipulative, but just enough that I relaxed a little and found myself saying, “It’s just all working out for her, isn’t it?”

Alice appeared at Jasper’s side, wrapping her arms around him and leaning her head against his arm. She smiled at me sympathetically.

“It’s not as though I want Bella to _suffer_ ,” I said slowly, and then heard a slight chuckle- Emmett, padding out to jump up and sit beside me on the workbench, his long legs dangling. “I don’t!” I protested indignantly. “Okay, maybe I did once, but not anymore!”

All three of them laughed in a friendly way, and I found myself grinning back. “It’s not even about suffering really,” I said. “I know the fact that I’m jealous is all on me and I can’t blame Bella, or anyone else but myself, for the way I feel. But it’s hard to watch her today with her father and daughter and realise that all those warnings, all that talk about how this life isn’t a fairy tale, and that losing your humanity means losing so many, many things…none of it has been true for Bella. She hasn’t lost anything. She has a baby, she has Edward, she has her father…even that stupid stinking Jacob Black is her friend and he’s still here!” I gave a despairing laugh.

Beside me, Emmett slid a hand across my back and pulled me a little closer to him, pressing a kiss to my temple. “It didn’t all come easy to her though,” he said slowly. “That pregnancy was pretty brutal.”

“A month,” I said quietly. “I know how much Bella risked and I will always admire her for doing it, but as if I wouldn’t have gone through ten times that, as if Esme wouldn’t have…if we had had that chance too.”

“You’re not the only one,” Jasper spoke up, a little reluctantly. “Bella’s control is extraordinary, like nothing I’ve ever seen.” He shook his head and went on stiffly. “It’s difficult to accept. It’s made me question all my own difficulties and failures and what flaws I must have that have made it that way.”

Alice embraced him, murmuring something into his ears that I couldn’t quite catch. “Carlisle thinks perhaps it is just a gift Bella has,” she said then.

I shrugged. “Maybe. And I’m happy for her… _really._ But it still reminds me a little hurtfully of what I _don’t_ have, as well as what I didn’t have when I was turned. We all came into this life with nothing but the clothes on our backs- I didn’t even have that.” I shuddered, and felt Emmett’s hand tighten reflexively on my hip. “All of us lost family, lost possessions, lost innocence, lost _everything_ that tied us to the human world, and it all happened in an instant. There was no mercy and no reprieve for any of us.”

For a moment the four of us looked at each other in silence as we remembered. We all knew the stories. Jasper, turned by Maria to be used as a pawn in her ruthless military campaign, had lost almost all semblance of humanity and been forced to become barely more than a monster; Emmett had been torn apart by a bear and was bleeding to death when I took him home to Carlisle, and then lost his family, his parents and all his siblings whom he had loved and taken care of; I had been raped and beaten and brutalised and lost my innocence, my romantic heart and nearly all my girlish dreams for the future; and Alice…Alice had lost everything when she woke to this life with no memories at all, and then had to endure thirty years of loneliness before she found her way to Jasper and then at last to us, her Cullen family where she would finally belong.

“I don’t wish she’d suffered more,” I said quietly. “I’ve come to love Bella, and she’s our sister now and forever- I can’t wish hurt on her. But I do wonder how well she can understand or empathise, when her experience has been so different to ours.”

“It won’t always be easy for Bella,” Jasper said into the silence, his voice low. “Keeping Charlie in her life is only delaying the inevitable- he is mortal and she is not, and one day she will have to say goodbye. Her mother too…I don’t know what will happen there. And Nessie…” His voice trailed away.

I turned towards Emmett and pressed my face against his chest, the familiar feel of his hand moving through my hair offering little comfort this time. There was nothing to say…no one knew what was going to happen to Nessie, and it was not only Bella who would suffer if we lost her.


	27. A Lesson in Humility

Charlie Swan stayed at our house all day. Despite the fact that he never seemed to relax in our presence he sat through the football game and then a second one, then watched the after game comments and then the news program that followed. It was only when Seth reminded him that he’d promised to have dinner with his mother and Billy Black that Charlie hoisted himself out of the armchair and made a move to the front door. Bella, Renesmee asleep in her arms, walked him out.

“Jake says you guys were going to take off on me,” Charlie said to Bella out on the step, unaware that we could all hear clearly.

“I didn’t want to do that if there was any way at all around it. That’s why we’re still here.”

“He said you could stay for a while, but only if I’m tough enough and if I can keep my mouth shut.” Charlie sounded anxious.

“Yes…but I can’t promise that we’ll never leave, Dad. It’s pretty complicated…” Bella said apologetically.

“Need to know?” Charlie said with a sigh.

“Right.”

Inside, the rest of us began to relax knowing that he would soon be gone, and it would just be our family. Human guests, no matter how personally agreeable, always brought with them a certain level of tension. Jacob wandered off to the kitchen in search of some food, Carlisle opened his book and began reading with Esme sitting beside him sketching out some nursery ideas for Renesmee in her notebook. At the piano Edward was playing softly. Emmett stood up and stretched and then took a box of cards and tossed them to me. “Come play with me, angel.”

Obligingly I followed him over to the floor under the stairs where he began to lay out the foundation for a house of cards. He only built them to enjoy the destruction of them, but I just shrugged and joined in.

Bella stood thoughtfully on the porch, Renesmee still asleep in her arms, watching Charlie’s taillights as they disappeared down the drive. Edward rose from the piano and went to her side.

“Edward, I did it!”

“You did,” he murmured proudly. “You were unbelievable. All that worrying over being a newborn, and then you skip it altogether.” He laughed.

“I’m not even sure she’s really a vampire, let alone a newborn,” Emmett called to them from under the stairs, grinning wickedly. “She’s too _tame._ ”

Coming on top of Emmett’s sly taunting and the embarrassing comments he’d made in front of Bella’s dad all day (not that Charlie had given any sign that he noticed), this last insult was too much. Bella’s eyes sparked and with a curled lip she snarled at Emmett.

“Oooh, scary,” Emmett laughed.

Bella hissed, which woke Renesmee who looked around and then touched her mother’s face. “Charlie will be back tomorrow,” Bella told her.

“Excellent,” Emmett murmured with a pleased grin.

“Not brilliant, Emmett,” Edward said scornfully, holding out his hands for Ness who went into his arms willingly.

“What do you mean?” Emmett demanded.

“It’s a little dense, don’t you think, to antagonise the strongest vampire in the house?” Edward said with grin.

Emmett threw back his head and snorted. _“Please!”_

Edward winked at me and I sat back, watching with amusement. I loved my Emmett, but I can’t say he didn’t deserve to get his ass handed to him on occasion! I remembered a long ago snowy Alaskan afternoon when our vampire cousin Kate had taught Emmett a lesson on Edward’s instruction, and I couldn’t hide my grin.

“Bella,” Edward said smoothly. “Do you remember a few months ago, I asked you to do me a favour once you were immortal?”

Bella frowned for a moment, before the memory surfaced. “Oh!”

From her place on the stairs, Alice laughed gleefully.

“What?” Emmett growled.

“Really?” Bella asked Edward doubtfully.

“Trust me.”

Bella took a deep breath. “Emmett, how do you feel about a little bet?”

“Awesome. Bring it.” Emmett bounced to his feet, and for a moment Bella looked intimidated.

“Unless you’re too afraid?” Emmett suggested mockingly, catching her hesitation.

Bella’s shoulders stiffened. “You. Me. Arm-wrestling. Dining room table. Now.”

Emmett grinned, and after looking at Alice’s face I knew how this would end and I covered my mouth to hide my laughter.

“Er, Bella,” Alice said quickly. “I think Esme is fairly fond of that table. It’s an antique.”

“Thank you!” Esme mouthed to Alice with a relieved smile.

“No problem,” Emmett said with a swagger. “Right this way, Bella.”

_Oh, you darling, deluded fool!_

We all trailed outside, following Emmett around the garage to a pile of rocks near the river. One of the granite boulders stood up from the scatter of stones, and it was to this that Emmett headed. Planting his elbow on the rock he beckoned Bella forward.

Bella’s face was inscrutable. I knew she had to be uneasy, but I looked at Edward’s confident face and Alice’s barely concealed glee and knew that she really didn’t have reason to be. She faced Emmett squarely over the rock.

“Okay, Emmett. I win, and you cannot say one more word about my sex life to anyone, not even Rose. No allusions, no innuendos- no nothing.”

Emmett’s eyes narrowed. “Deal. I win, and it’s going to get a _lot_ worse.” He was deadly serious, watching Bella with an evil grin that was obviously giving her second thoughts. “You gonna back down so easy, little sister?” he taunted. “Not much wild about _you_ , is there? I bet that cottage doesn’t have a scratch.” He laughed. “Did Edward tell you how many houses Rose and I smashed?”

I shook back my hair. _Don’t bring me in to this!_

Bella gritted her teeth and gripped Emmett’s hand, looking ridiculously small and weak compared to Emmett’s big, chiselled body. “One, two…”

“Three,” Emmett grunted, and it was on.

Not much of a fight. Embarrassingly quick, for Emmett! For several moments there was almost no movement as Emmett’s whole body strained against the immovable object of Bella’s small hand. Bella herself looked almost surprised at first, and then bored. A moment later she pushed, just a little, and Emmett’s hand moved. Bella’s eyes gleamed, and she laughed.

Emmett snarled, and I made a horrible face at Edward. Yes, Emmett needed to be schooled on occasion, but being humiliated by Bella was going to sting.

Humiliation it was too as Bella, with no apparent effort whatsoever, smashed Emmett’s hand down into the boulder. His knuckles cracked through the stone and probably an eighth of the boulder split away from the rest and fell onto Emmett’s foot. Furious, he kicked the rock fragment across the river where it sliced through a maple and brought down a fir tree before it came to rest on the earth. The sound of the tree falling did little to muffle the sound of Jacob and Edward’s laughter.

“Rematch. Tomorrow.”

“it’s not going to wear off that fast,” Bella pointed out. “Maybe you ought to give it a month.”

Emmett growled, flashing his teeth, and I rolled my eyes. “Tomorrow.”

“Hey, whatever makes you happy, big brother.”

Emmett turned to stomp away and couldn’t stop himself from slamming a fist into the boulder, which shattered under his fist. Bella watched him, and then reached out and laid her hand on the rock, digging her fingers in and watching in fascination as it crumbled under her strength. “Cool,” she mumbled to herself.

I remembered how strange that extraordinary strength and power and speed had felt in my first vampire days. I remembered the thrill of knowing that nothing and no one could hurt me, and swearing to myself that I would use this new strength to shape the world to my will. I remembered the first time I ran, and the way it felt like flying and gave me the first spark of pleasure in this wretched vampire existence.

As I was musing on my past, Bella was very much enjoying the present and exploring her new strength with a lot of smashing up of very solid looking rocks. Suddenly, amongst the rattle and clash of shattering stones there was a beautiful bell like sound and we all looked up to see that Ness, held safe in Edward’s arms, was laughing.

“Did she just laugh?” Bella asked delightedly.

“Who _wasn’t_ laughing?” Jacob snorted.

“Tell me you didn’t let go a bit on your first run, dog,” Edward teased.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of antagonism in his tone, and I felt my jaw clench. Oh, wonderful…first Bella forgave the mutant and now Edward was apparently burying the hatchet and adopting him.

“That’s different,” Jacob said, mock punching Edward’s shoulder, much to my disgust at the familiarity of it. “Bella’s supposed to be a grown-up. Married and a mom and all that. Shouldn’t there be more dignity?”

Ness frowned as she touched Edward’s cheek.

“What does she want?” Bella asked.

“Less dignity,” Edward answered with a laugh. “She was having almost as much fun watching you enjoy yourself as I was.”

“Am I funny?” Bella asked Renesmee, reaching out for her. Bella took her baby and snuggled her close, giving her the chunk of stone she had in her hand. “You want to try?”

Nessie smiled and took the stone in both hands, concentrating fiercely as she squeezed it. There was a tiny grinding sound, and some dust scraped off the rock and swirled slowly to the ground. Renesmee frowned in disappointment.

At that moment the clouds separated and the sun shone through, beams of golden light striking all that vampire skin and throwing off rainbows, shimmering streaks of colour reflecting on to trees and rocks and grass. Instinctively I moved backwards, into the shade of the house. As beautiful as it was I had never been able to quite swallow down my hatred of that diamond hard, reflective skin that marked me so clearly and indelibly as _other._

Ness gave a wordless cry of pleasure as she watched the sparkles move, and then stretched her own plump little arm out in front of her. Her skin had only a subtle luminosity, not quite human but not so different that people would notice. Renesmee could live a life in the sunshine if she wanted to.

Of course that didn’t matter to her, then. Her little baby world was just us, and she compared her own skin to the shimmer of Bella’s arm next to hers and frowned, disgruntled.

“You’re the prettiest,” Bella said with a laugh and kiss for the baby, who smiled and hugged her mother tightly.

“I’m not sure I can agree to that,” Edward said, looking at Bella tenderly.

Jacob was blunter when he shared his opinion. “Freaky Bella.”

“What an amazing creature she is,” Edward murmured, and I rolled my eyes and turned away. Anyone would think he’d never seen a vampire before in his life, rather than believe that he’d been looking at one in the mirror for a hundred years.

I couldn’t begrudge Bella her happiness though, not really. She’d become my friend, and for her sake I was glad that her vampire transition had been, relatively speaking, so easy. And Nessie…it would always hurt that she wasn’t mine, but I was finding such joy in her baby company that even my jealousy of Bella over her motherhood was tempered by my love for her child.

As I was thinking, the sun went back behind the clouds, and the sparkle disappeared. Bella spoke to Edward briefly and then turned to smile at me. “I’m going hunting Rose- would you take Renesmee?”

Eagerly I held out my arms. “Of course. Come on Ness- Renesmee,” I amended hastily. “Let’s go find your uncle Emmett and stop him sulking.”

Ness gripped my shoulder, and showed me Bella smashing Emmett’s fist through the rock questioningly. “That’s right,” I said to her solemnly. “Your momma kicked his butt and he doesn’t like to lose. Let’s go cheer him up.” Once again Ness touched my face and I started laughing as she showed me a quick succession of images of Emmett smiling- cheering the game on tv earlier in the day, playing airplane with Ness, kissing me behind the kitchen door. “Yes, those things make him happy…add some hunting in there and you’ve got him pretty figured out, my clever Nessie!”

Emmett wasn’t hard to find. I heard some rocks being thrown around further along the river and headed that way, Ness clinging on to me like a monkey. “Hey,” I called as we came in sight of him, standing thigh deep in the river.

Emmett scowled at me furiously. “Remember how we were saying that we didn’t wish Bella had suffered? Yeah? Well, _I changed my mind.”_

I bit back my laugh. Oh, poor hurt baby! “Come on Emmett, you _did_ kind of ask for it.”

“I did not! Bella just doesn’t appreciate my sense of humour!” Emmett ducked under the water and came up holding a boulder the size of a St Bernard, which he threw it in our direction, judging it perfectly so that Ness and I were both drenched by the splash.

“Emmett!” I shouted, “Keep that up and _I’ll_ kick your ass!”

In my arms Nessie laughed and clapped her hands, then touched my face eagerly.

“Yes,” I said, “It’s like the bathtub- you want to go swimming? Oh, why not?”

Slipping down the bank I waded into the water, holding Ness so that her toes dipped into the freezing water. She didn’t seem to feel the cold though, straining her legs to get closer so that she could kick up the water in Emmett’s direction. He watched her fondly, and then met my eyes with a sheepish grin.

“Bella whipped me,” he said ruefully.

“She did,” I said. “It was a complete and utter rout.”

“Thanks for the sympathy! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

I laughed, holding Ness under her arms and swishing her through the water to her waist. “I _am_ on your side! But it was kind of funny Emmett- how many times have you used your strength to humiliate Edward over the years?”

I could tell Emmett was trying not to grin. “Not _very_ often.”

I snorted. “Right. Anyway, you know it won’t last with Bella. She’s new, that’s all. In a few months you’ll be able to dominate her the way you do the rest of us.” I swung Ness in the air and back down again, dipping her into the water and then lifting her up with a spray of droplets flying out behind her as she shrieked with glee.

Emmett held out his arms for the baby. “And then this one will probably turn around and be able to bench press me or something…hey Loch Ness? You gonna grow up and be superhero strong?” Renesmee touched his face and he grinned as he saw what she was showing him, and then laughed. “You think we’ll do some arm wrestling too, you and me? Okay Monster, you’re on. And yes…you and Rosa girl have cheered me right up.”

He looked over at me and smiled, and when he held out his free arm I splashed over to them and joined in their hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- Can I just say that I love Emmett?  
> Anyway, thank you so much to everyone reading this and leaving me such great feedback! I’m so glad I took on this challenge- even with sickeningly perfect Bella and demon baby and Jacob being an ass I’m enjoying this rewrite a lot.  
> Secondly, and I apologise for this, but this story will be going on a two week break because I’m going on a holiday. I thought I’d get it done before I left, but that was obviously not meant to be…so sorry about that. I promise I’ll come back to it, so either check back in a couple of weeks or add it to your alerts- still lots of Volturi drama to come!


	28. Shadows in Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! Twelve days of no kids, no work, and no vampires…it was rather blissful, actually. However I’m home now and getting back into my normal mundane life and doing some writing again, yay! Hopefully someone will still be hanging in to read this, cause the Volturi are on their way and that’s going to cause an endless amount of fun and drama and angst for all involved!

It was surprising how quickly things within the family settled into a routine. If the daily life of a family of vampires, werewolves, humans and hybrid half human-half vampire infants could be called _routine_ , that is.

The wolves became a permanent, if malodorous, fixture around the house. Jacob refused to be apart from Renesmee for any length of time and it turned out that his pack, which had grown by two as Quil and Embry joined, came along with him. They claimed that they preferred to stay outside as much as possible, but the amount of time they spent sprawled around the kitchen scoffing down the food Esme made for them could have proved otherwise.

Seth I didn’t mind- he was cheerful and unpretentious and, although he never let Emmett see him, he looked at me with a kind of awed admiration that flattered me and made me more willing to overlook the general stench and messiness of having a pack of dogs around.

Leah was frequently around too, since she was now Jacob’s second in command, although I believed her when she said that she’d rather be elsewhere. She certainly didn’t have much of her brother’s innate good cheer and friendliness. At the same time though, I couldn’t help a sneaking feeling of kinship with her- Leah was strong and she was tough, and she refused to be beaten down by everything life had thrown at her. And her life hadn’t been easy.

I tolerated Jacob, not that I had much choice. Jacob’s life revolved around Renesmee and the two of us reached an unspoken and somewhat uneasy truce, simply because both of us adored the tiny girl and she didn’t like us to argue.

Renesmee held most of the family in the palm of her tiny little hand. She could have been a complete tyrant, in fact she probably _should_ have been one with the level of devotion she lived with, but somehow she maintained her sweet and engaging disposition and was loved unreservedly.

The joy of Nessie lit up our lives, but it came hand in hand with the spectre of fear and we could not avoid the shadow.

She spoke her first word at only a week old. _Momma_ she said, which had sent a bolt of pain through me so sharp that it would have brought me to my knees if I had not been working so hard to shield my hurt from her. I never, ever wanted Nessie to know how much her existence still sometimes hurt me- that bittersweet ache of knowing that as much as I loved her she was not mine. Ness followed up her first word with her first sentence immediately, and after that she could talk. She still preferred to simply touch you and communicate directly, but if you were not close or she wanted to talk to several people at once she would talk.

Renesmee walked less than three weeks after this. She was seated on the floor watching Alice arrange flowers in vases around the living room one day when she suddenly got to her feet and gracefully crossed the room to reach up and help. Jacob applauded her, as this was what she wanted and he always gave her what she wanted, but I saw the look of panic he and Bella shared. She was less than a month old and she was already walking and talking…what next?

By three months she was the size of a normal eighteen month old, although her proportions were not those of a toddler. She was leaner and more graceful, and her long, thick curls almost reached her waist. She could talk and sing and run and dance. She could read and play the piano- her skill there only limited by the small size of her fingers that couldn’t span the keys.

Our beautiful Ness was glowing with health and vitality, but we couldn’t deny the terrible uncertainty of her life. Her growth and development were perfect but so fast- far too fast. Where would it end? We felt some relief when her physical development began slowing, but even if the rate of decrease held steady Carlisle calculated that she would reach adulthood in only four more years. She would age beyond a normal human life span in only fifteen.

Fifteen years of life. Just a moment in the context of the immortality the rest of us lived in. Fifteen years, and then we would have to say goodbye.

It was unthinkable. Edward and Carlisle devoted themselves to researching the subject, looking for answers or ideas or _anything._ Oddly enough it was Emmett, the least academically inclined of any of us, who proved most useful in this pursuit. Because of _my_ obsession with having a child he had looked into it at various times over the years and noted anything he read or heard or saw that was related to vampires and children. Stories, myths and legends all of it, nothing had been verifiable, nothing had seemed to contain truth…but now we had Ness, and Emmett dragged out everything he had ever learned and the three of them pored over it, desperately searching for a grain of truth, _something_ that might give us a lead and offer hope.

It felt odd to live with this terrible fear on one side and such great joy on the other; because Nessie did give us joy- life with a constantly changing, growing and developing child was fascinating and funny and heartbreaking beautiful. We didn’t want her to feel afraid of the future, and so we surrounded her with as much love and fun as possible and tried to make her life seem like an adventure.

Renesmee played dress ups with Alice and I, modelling an endless parade of new clothes as she outgrew everything almost immediately. She loved having her hair brushed as part of her dressing up ritual, and I loved braiding the beautiful soft curls. Alice and I took thousands of photos, putting together a baby book for her that appeared to span years rather than weeks.

She went hunting with Jacob and Bella often. She could eat human food and her body was able to digest it, but she only tolerated rather than enjoyed the food. She preferred human blood, and it was the closest we ever came to a tantrum when Carlisle told her that the blood was needed for sick people and she was a healthy girl who could drink animal blood like the rest of us. She enjoyed the physical challenge of hunting though, enjoyed it as a game and competition between her and Jacob, and came to accept the idea in time.

I went with them once but found it a deeply troubling experience. Watching the tiny, angelic faced little girl stalking her prey and then tearing into the throat and killing it with skilful efficiency shocked me in a way that her drinking blood out of opaque bottles had not. Yes it was hypocritical of me, but it unsettled me to realise that Ness was not having anything that resembled a normal childhood. Unlike the rest of us she had been born into this shadow world of myth and monsters and would never know the human world as a place where she truly belonged. I couldn’t help but wonder what impact that might have on her as she grew.

My favourite times were the nights Bella and Edward left Ness to sleep up in the big house. They didn’t do it often but I loved being able to take Ness upstairs after her evening milk (the only human nourishment she actually liked) and shut the door in Jacob’s face and have her sleep between Emmett and I, holding her hand to watch her dreams. Ness loved it too- she loved the big bed, she loved Emmett playing the guitar and singing to her, and she loved having us tell her stories. Not reading her books like Bella did, but telling her stories of our lives together.

 “Tell me the bear one!” she demanded one evening, bouncing on the bed in her striped pyjamas and not looking in the least bit tired.

Emmett grabbed her around the ribs and raised her above his head, making aeroplane noises as he zoomed her around the room in a blur of speed.

“If she throws up that milk on your head I’m only going to laugh,” I remarked, sitting up in bed and watching the two of them with amusement. I couldn’t be too irritated- Emmett bought out the more playful and childlike side of Renesmee in a way that no one else except Jacob did, and it was a side of her I loved to see.

Emmett tossed her to me and I caught her expertly, settling her down firmly in front of me. Picking up the hairbrush I began to run it through her hair and after a few impatient wiggles Ness settled down. “Please tell me about the bear,” she requested again in her high, musical voice.

Emmett grinned. “Okay Monster. You know how it goes though- this is way back in the 30’s when I was just an ordinary human, going out hunting in the ordinary way with an ordinary shotgun…” Emmett acted his story as he told her, sighting down an imaginary gun barrel and stalking stealthily across the room. “I was just about to take my shot when along came…a bear!” Leaping on the bed he grabbed Ness and wrestled with her, rolling her over and tickling her in all the spots guaranteed to make her shriek and giggle.

“I fought back,” Emmett went on, embellishing as he always did, “I wrestled with that bear but she was big…and she was mean…and she was cranky!” He buried his face in Nessie’s belly and blew raspberries as she squirmed and laughed hysterically. “And at last she got the best of me and I was beat.” With a dramatic groan Emmett rolled off the bed and landed on the floor with a thump.

Ness scrambled across the bed on her hands and knees to grin down at him. “And then you smelled something good…” she prompted.

“I did. I had my eyes shut, and was waiting to die when I smelled something good. So I opened my eyes and there was an angel….um, angel? This is where you come in.”

Shaking my head I jumped off the bed and stood over Emmett, who was stretched out comfortably on the floor, enjoying himself hugely.

“There she is!” he exclaimed. “And then Ness, this angel just picked me up and took me away to heaven…or at least that’s what I thought.”

I grinned at him, and looked over at Ness. “As for me, I was just out for an afternoon stroll when I heard a bear and smelled a _lot_ of human blood. So I went to see what was happening, and what did I find? Some big dopey man who had let himself get mauled up by a bear.” I shook my head in mock sadness. “What else could I do but pick him up?” Sliding my hand under Emmett’s thighs and another under his shoulders I hefted him up into my arms. With my vampire strength he wasn’t hard to lift up, but he was so _big_ and it was so stupidly _awkward…_

On the bed Ness was helpless with laughter. This was why it was her favourite story- she loved Emmett being the bear and wrestling her, but the sight of me carrying Emmett like a baby had her in convulsions of laughter every time without fail.

“I carried this big lump all the way home,” I told Ness, “And then I gave him to Carlisle…” I tossed him on the bed, and Renesmee shrieked and jumped up to sit on Emmett’s chest, smiling at me.

“And you said, ‘fix him, he’s mine!’” Ness continued the story she knew so well. “And then Carlisle bit him and made him a vampire!” With a mischievous grin she made loud chomping noises and pretended to bite Emmett’s neck as he lay still and played dead, before he suddenly burst into life with a roar. He raised her high about him, holding her with one hand as he held his other arm out to me.

“I woke up not knowing where I was or what I’d become,” Emmett said, and his voice unconsciously slowed and softened into the drawling southern accent he’d had when I’d first found him. I dropped down on the bed and saw the light in his golden eyes as he smiled at me. “But none of that mattered, because the angel was right there beside me and she was my Rosalie.”

He lowered Nessie and she lay in the hollow between us, her little arms wrapped rightly around both our necks. “And you knew you’d be together forever,” she finished contentedly.

Over her curly head Emmett smiled at me, and I leaned forward and kissed him lightly. It hadn’t been quite that simple…but here we were, together forever. “That’s right Nessie,” I said quietly, wrapping her in the quilt we kept in here for her and resettling her in the crook of my elbow. Emmett wrapped his big arms around the both of us with a contented growl. “And we knew we’d be together forever.”

“I always want us to be together,” Nessie murmured, wriggling comfortably. She smiled at me and touched my face, and I gently held her soft hand against my cheek as she showed me all her people- Emmett and I, Bella and Edward, Alice, Jasper, Carlisle, Esme, Charlie and Sue, Jacob and the rest of the wolves… I hid my grimace and smiled at her as she closed her eyes. “I love my family.”

As her breath regulated and her tiny body went limp with relaxation and sleep, I rested my own head against Emmett’s shoulder. As I listened to the tiny, thrumming heartbeat of this child, the mingled scents of my beloved Emmett and Nessie surrounding me, I felt as peaceful and happy as I ever had in this vampire life. Together forever…I could live with that.

Too bad forever would soon be threatening to come to a heartbreakingly premature end.


	29. The Best Laid Plans

Alice appeared in our room mere seconds before Renesmee’s eyelashes fluttered and she woke. “Good morning!” she trilled.

Ness wriggled her out way of the quilt cocoon with a grin, kissed Emmett and I and then leaped into Alice’s arms and stroked her face.

Alice smiled in delight. “Yes, we’re going to go and get dressed and I’ve got a new beautiful dress for you today!” She flashed a look at me. “I’m _so_ glad she didn’t inherit her mother’s aversion to being fussed over!”

The two of them disappeared and Emmett and I drifted downstairs, finding Carlisle, Edward and Bella deep in conversation.

“We’ve really done all we can from a distance,” Carlisle said. “We’re not going to find out much more over the internet and reading other people’s research and ideas. If we want to find out more about children like Renesmee, we’re going to have to follow the legends to the source.”

“The Ticunas have legends about hybrid children,” Edward said. “They seem to be the most likely to have some element of truth to them so I think we should start there, in Brazil.”

“The Amazon?” Emmett said, his eyes gleaming. “All _right!”_

Edward scowled at him. “It’s not a hunting trip Emmett!”

“Everyone’s gotta eat, dude,” Emmett said cheerfully. “We may as well make it fun when we can!” He looked across at me with a wicked grin. “Jaguars and panthers baby doll, you’re going to love it.”

I made a face at him but he was right- the cats were my favourite and the Amazon versions…the venom ran.

Esme came in with her hands full of mail. “The mail has come. Bella, there’s something for you.” She passed a package to Bella, who tore off the wrapping and then gasped.

It was an ornately carved wooden box, inlaid with gold and mother-of-pearl and adorned with a rainbow of gemstones. It smelled of centuries of age.

“That’s stunning,” I said, leaning over for a closer look. “Where did you find it?”

Bella frowned. “I didn’t. Someone must have sent it.” She flipped open the lid and then our eyes met in shock over the gift inside- a flawless diamond the size of a golf ball suspended from a thick gold rope. Both of us knew there was only one person such a treasure could have come from.

Bella took the thick white card tucked into the box. “I so look forward to seeing the new Mrs Cullen in person,” she read aloud, and then looked up at Edward. “It’s from Aro.”

“But how did he know?”

“I sent him a wedding announcement,” Alice said calmly, tripping gracefully into the room with Renesmee in her arms.

Nessie immediately stretched her arms out towards Bella, who took her with a kiss. “But why?” she asked Alice.

“I had a vision while you and Edward were away,” Alice told her frankly. “A Volturi hunting party- Jane and Alec were among them. Caius was planning to send them to see if you were still human. I didn’t think we would want _that_ , so I sent an announcement. They will come eventually, but the announcement would delay them as they tried to decipher the meaning.”

“Momma, that’s pretty,” Ness pointed towards the diamond. “It sparkles like you. Can I wear it?”

Bella hesitated. Not because Ness couldn’t touch such a priceless treasure – the child was so spoiled she could practically roll around in money and use gold bars as Lego bricks if she wanted to- but because the idea of our pure, innocent Ness touching something Aro had touched was somehow abhorrent.

“I thought you were going out hunting with Jacob this morning?” she said at last. “He told me that he’s been getting much bigger prey than you…”

“No he hasn’t!” Ness protested. “I can beat him…I’ll show you!” Jumping from Bella’s arms she sped out the back door and we watched her run across the lawn to Jacob, who was pacing in his wolf form by the river.

“I have to go to Volterra,” Bella said abruptly, her eyes still on her daughter. “We _can’t_ have Aro coming here, not now.”

“We’ll both go,” Edward said. “A quick trip and it will be done.”

“No!” Alice and Bella spoke in unison.

“He can’t know about Renesmee,” Bella said flatly. “He can’t. It’s too dangerous, and I’m the only one who can keep it from him. I have to go alone.”

I could see Edward’s mind working, trying desperately to see some way around it, but Bella was right. Aro’s fascination was the unique, the powerful, the rare and the beautiful…and Nessie was all of these. His feelings towards our family, the largest coven outside Volterra and containing Edward and Alice with their powerful and desirable gifts, were already ambivalent. His fascination with Carlisle and the family he had made and the lifestyle we all lived only went so far with his covetous nature, and already he was wary of our strength and desirous of adding Edward and Alice to his ranks. If he were to touch any of us, and thus access all of our thoughts and memories, if he saw our connection with the Quileute wolves and the wonder of Nessie in there…who knew what he would do? Only Bella’s impenetrable mind could keep him out. Only Bella was safe to be in his presence.

“But for you to be there alone!” Edward murmured. “If something should happen?”

Bella shook her head. “Nothing will happen. I’m nothing to him, not really- once he knows I’m not human anymore and the rules have been upheld, he’ll lose interest. Alice?”

Alice nodded, a little uncertainly. “I don’t see any trouble,” she said. “It’s a little indistinct though…there are outside factors that might conflict, but they haven’t been decided yet.”

“That’s it then,” Edward said firmly. “You’re not going until we get a clear vision from Alice.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Bella argued. “We won’t get a clear vision until we decide to go. It’s fine- it’s a short trip and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’ll come with you as far as London,” Carlisle suggested. “That way I’m close by if you should need me, but not within Aro’s reach.”

“I’ll go,” Edward insisted.

“No,” Bella said. “Renesmee needs at least one parent here with her. You stay here. It will only be a couple of days and I’ll be back and we won’t have to worry any more, at least about _that.”_

“And then when you get back we go to Brazil?” Emmett asked cheerfully.

Bella frowned. “Maybe we could stay here in Forks until after the holidays? It’s nearly Christmas, and it would mean a lot to Charlie if Renesmee and I were here for it. Especially if we’re going away after.”

I could tell that Carlisle would have preferred to start out on the research trip right away, but truthfully a few weeks wouldn’t matter. “Very well. We can start with the Ticunas, see what we dig up there. There are other tribes too. I have some vampire friends in the Amazon too, if we can find them they may be of some help. They’re all female, so I doubt they have anything to do with the stories that originate there, but they may know something. The other question about our trip is Jacob…”

“No!” I said, without even thinking. “Oh, _please_ no,” I added hopelessly as everyone else looked at me, Carlisle and Esme with reproach and Emmett with barely concealed amusement. “Surely we don’t have to have him come along…don’t things like him have to go through quarantine anyway?”

Bella frowned at me, but her lip twitched. “I think he’ll refuse to stay behind,” she said. “I’ll talk to him, but I doubt he’ll be willing to see Renesmee go away for an indefinite amount of time without us.”

“Jacob could be useful too,” Carlisle said practically. “The kind of people we will be dealing with, who believe in vampires and these myths and superstitions, are not that likely to want to talk to _us_.”

“Fear will go a long way to loosening tongues,” Emmett said, and shrugged at Carlisle’s look of distaste. “Sorry Carlisle, but it’s true- if we want to get at the truth we are going to have to _make_ them talk. We’re not going to hurt them, but _they_ don’t know that.”

“If Jacob comes along that might be unnecessary,” Carlisle sighed. “He’s human, he’s native American, he’s grown up with tribal stories and customs… _different_ stories and customs to the Amazonian tribes of course, but he’s probably got a greater understanding of the way the societies might function. He may find it easier to talk to them, and be able to get to the information we need.”

“Volterra first though,” Bella said quietly. “Show Aro that we’ve played by the rules…”

I could hear Nessie’s distant laugh and a long howl from Jacob. Played by the rules…sure Bella.

Alice’s eyes went glassy as she flipped through visions of the future. “So many things…I don’t see how they all relate yet,” she murmured. “Irina is considering coming for a visit- that would be lovely, she hasn’t been with Kate and Tanya for a long time, they would love for her to make peace with what’s happened…snowstorm, not for a while though….Bella, your mother will be calling so you should practise sounding less vampire-like.” Alice shrugged. “I’ll keep looking of course, but nothing so far is terribly concerning, although it still bothers me that I can’t see anything involving those dogs or Ness! Oh and Rosalie?” she grinned at me. “I’d call your broker- those Kingston stocks you were looking at? Buy, buy, buy baby!”

I laughed, but was on the phone to my broker before Alice had risen from her seat.

Bella looked outside, frowning at the small, fluttering snowflakes falling through the air. She looked edgy and uneasy after our discussion, not that I could blame her. The idea of walking – alone- into the darkness of Volterra was terrifying. “I’m going to go after Renesmee and Jacob,” she murmured distractedly, and then blurred into motion as she streaked after them into the forest.

I was looking at maps of south America with Edward and Emmett when Edward’s cell phone rang. I saw Bella’s name on the display and couldn’t stop myself from listening in. Was Renesmee okay?

“Come, bring Carlisle. I saw Irina, and she saw me, but then she saw Jacob and she got made and ran away, I _think._ She hasn’t showed up here – yet, anyway- but she looked pretty upset so maybe she will. If she doesn’t, you and Carlisle have to go after her and talk to her. I feel so bad.” Bella’s voice was fast and anxious.

Edward tapped the cell phone and rose fluidly to his feet. “Carlisle?”

“Let’s go,” Carlisle looked uneasy. “I don’t like this ill-will between us and any of our Denali cousins. It will be good if we can talk to Irina and explain.”

The two of them disappeared from the house, and I looked at Alice and shrugged. “Can you see what’s happening?”

Alice frowned. “It’s difficult with Jacob involved. But…no, Carlisle and Edward are not going to be able to speak to her. They won’t find her.”

Alice’s vision proved correct, and Carlisle and Edward returned to the house hours later with no news. Disheartened Carlisle phoned Tanya to tell her that we had sighted her sister near our home, but been unable to speak to her. Alice felt that she had come to make peace, but when she saw Bella’s obvious friendship with Jacob, a wolf that Irina blamed for the death of her vampire love Laurent, she had once again been overcome by her grief and gone away. Tanya and Kate had not seen their sister since they’d decided to come to Bella and Edward’s wedding, and Tanya was distraught to think that she had so nearly come home and then changed her mind. She promised to call Carlisle if Irina returned to them, and we had to leave the subject there.

We had a lot to occupy ourselves with as we planned our South American trip then anyway. Eight vampires, a hybrid vampire-human baby, and a shape shifting Quileute wolf was not exactly the most discreet of travelling parties, and flights, vehicles and hotels had to be carefully coordinated. We also had to arrange passports for Jacob and Renesmee- not the simplest of tasks to do for a child who grew and changed so rapidly. Bella was keen to have Christmas with her father in Forks, and it was agreed that we wouldn’t travel until after the holidays.

I chafed under the delay. I had never been a patient person, and knowing that there might be answers out there to help us explain and understand Ness had me desperate to get on with our search. I wanted the threat of investigation from the Volturi taken care of and then for all of us to head off, down into the mysterious jungles of South America, to find what we were looking for. I was aware that we might not find it, that we were chasing wisps of smoke with our hunt for the truth of ancient legends and myths, but all we could do was look.

 And then one night everything changed.

We were gathered in the living room, the whole family together. Carlisle and Edward were deep in serious conversation about the Ticuna legends, going over things we had already discussed and analysed to death. Bella sat beside them, staring blankly ahead of her and not contributing to the conversation at all. Emmett and Jasper were much more light hearted as they talked hunting, laughing at stories of previous expeditions into the jungle and enthusing about the prey they intended to sample on this trip. Esme and I were chatting amiably about clothes and packing, Ness asleep on the couch between us, curled up with her hair in wild disarray across the cushions. I was watching Alice arrange flowers, enjoying the light fragrance of them untainted by the heavy scent of wolf since Jacob was, for once, over at the reservation. I tried not to think about the fact that he was only there so he could arrange things for his absence while he was in South America with us.

Alice moved slowly, her eyes flickering in and out of focus as she arranged the vases and flipped through visions of the future in her head. She was searching, as she had been for most of the day, for what might be waiting for us in South America. The blind spots the Jacob and Renesmee made in her visions made this a frustrating and unsatisfying experience for her. She had also continued to look for Irina, but I wasn’t aware of to what extent she was worrying about that until a wave of peace washed through the room and Jasper said to her gently, “Let it go, Alice; she’s not our concern.”

Alice picked up one of the vases that had a wilting flower, smiling lightly and poking her tongue out at Jasper as she turned towards the kitchen to change the flowers. She made it only to the doorway before she froze, and I looked up just in time to see the vase slip through her fingers and fall, shattering into a thousand crystal shards is it struck the kitchen tile.

All of us were perfectly still, staring in shock at Alice, the room ringing with the tinkling of the broken glass. _She dropped something?_ And then she turned, twisted to face us with eyes so full of agony and grief that all hint of the peace Jasper had infused the room with only seconds earlier vanished in a wave of terror. Behind me I heard Edward gasp, a tiny, broken sound in the silent room as he read the truth from Alice’s mind.

“ _What?”_ Jasper growled, reaching Alice’s side in a blur of speed. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, trying to bring her back. “ _What, Alice?”_

Emmett moved to stand at the back of the sofa, behind Nessie and I, his teeth bared in an instinctive response to danger, his eyes scanning the windows as he searched for an immediate threat.

“ _What is it?”_ Jasper said wildly.

“They’re coming for us. All of them.” Edward and Alice spoke together, two lifeless voices.

For a moment I didn’t understand. _Who_ was coming for us? _Why?_ Then I saw Edward’s eyes, bleak and broken and despairing, and I knew, even before Alice’s whisper confirmed it, what nightmare we were facing now.

_“The Volturi.”_


	30. Sentenced to Die

“The Volturi,” Alice whispered in horror.

“All of them,” Edward groaned at the same time.

Their eyes met. “When?” Edward rasped at the same time as Alice murmured “Why?”

“ _When?”_ Jasper’s voice was like ice.

Alice’s eyes fluttered then went blank as she searched her visions. “Not long…there’s snow on the forest, snow on the town. Little more than a month.”

“Why?” Carlisle was the one to ask this time, his voice tense.

Esme answered. “They must have a reason. Maybe to see…”

“This isn’t about Bella,” Alice said bleakly. “They’re all coming- Aro, Caius, Marcus, every member of the guard, even the wives.”

“The wives never leave the tower,” Jasper said harshly. “Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never.”

“They’re coming now,” Edward said hollowly.

“But _why?”_ Carlisle exploded. “We’ve done nothing! And if we had, what could we possible have done that would bring _this_ down on us?”

“There are so many of us,” Edward answered dully. “They must want to make sure that…”

“That doesn’t answer the crucial question!” Carlisle exclaimed. “ _Why?”_

“Go back Alice,” Jasper ordered her gently. “Look for the trigger. Search.”

Alice’s shoulders slumped. “It came out of nowhere. I wasn’t looking for them, or even for us. I was just looking for Irina. She wasn’t where I expected her to be…” Her eyes went glassy again, but only for a moment…then life blazed furiously back into her face, and I heard Edward catch his breath.

“She decided to go to them,” Alice hissed. “Irina decided to go to the Volturi. And then they will decide…It’s as if they’re waiting for her. Like their decision was already made and just waiting on her…”

There was a long silence. I sat motionless, only a thin thread of control holding back my terror.

“Can we stop her?” Jasper asked finally, little hope in his voice.

“There’s no way. She’s almost there.”

“What is she doing?” Carlisle asked. I couldn’t bear the tone of fear in his voice, the tone of _hurt_ …this was his long time friend who was about to betray us.

Suddenly Bella went down on her knees by the sofa, covering the sleeping body of her daughter and burying her face in the sweet smelling curls that spread across the cushion. “Think of what she saw that afternoon,” Bella whispered. “To someone who’d lost a mother because of the immortal children, what would Renesmee look like?”

I thought of Ness, her tiny size and perfect beauty and grace, her skills and abilities that were clearly so much more than human… _oh please no, not that, if they believe that we have done that, created one of them…_

“An immortal child,” Carlisle breathed.

“But she’s wrong,” Bella said, her voice low. “Renesmee isn’t like those other children. They were frozen, but she grows so much every day. They were out of control, but she never hurts Charlie or Sue or even shows them things that would upset them. She _can_ control herself. She’s already smarter than most adults! There would be no reason…” Bella looked around wildly, almost begging for someone to tell her that she was right, that it would be okay, that Aro would listen and believe and forgive…

For long moments there was only silence, the empty silence of the grave.

“It’s not the kind of crime they hold a trial for, love,” Edward said at last, taking Bella in his arms and whispering into her hair. “Aro’s seen Irina’s _proof_ in her thoughts. They come to destroy, not to be reasoned with.”

“But they’re wrong!” Bella insisted.

“They won’t wait for us to show them that.” Edward’s tone was gentle, but so heavy with grief and desolation that there could be no arguing with it.

“What can we do?” Bella demanded.

Emmett’s hand moved over my hair, and his voice was calm when he answered her. “We fight.”

“We can’t win,” Jasper said flatly, his eyes as hard as flint. His body was curved around Alice’s, already bound to protect her. I had always thought there was nothing he would stop at to keep her safe, and I wondered numbly what he would do now.

“Well, we can’t run,” Emmett said practically. “Not with Demetri around. And I don’t know that we _can’t_ win…there are a few options to consider. We don’t have to fight alone,” he added thoughtfully.

“We don’t have to sentence the Quileutes to death either Emmett!” Bella snapped.

“Chill, Bella.” Emmett moved to the side of the sofa and sat on the arm of it, absently twisting my hair in his hands as he spoke. Unlike the rest of us he was not tense with terror, but taut with the exciting prospect of a challenge. “I didn’t mean the pack. Be realistic though- do you think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn’t about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was thinking of our other friends.”

“Other friends we don’t have to sentence to death,” Carlisle whispered.

“Hey, we’ll let them decide,” Emmett said easily. “I’m not saying they have to fight with us.”

I wrenched my hair out of Emmett’s hands and turned to stare at him, seeing him refining his idea as he talked.

“If they’d just stand beside us, just long enough to make the Volturi hesitate. Bella’s right, after all. If we could force them to stop and listen. Though that might take away any reason for a fight…” He was half smiling.

 _You arrogant FOOL! You think the Volturi care about what’s FAIR?_ I wanted to scream at him, to hit him and make him _see_ what it was we were facing…but in the end, what did it matter? I sank back against the sofa and looked down at Nessie. They wanted to punish us for her and they would do it whether we fought or not, so why not go down fighting? Even if the chances were tiny, even if it was almost useless…I could not see Ness die, see the rest of my family die, without doing my utmost to stop the carnage. _Whatever it takes._

“Yes!” Esme said eagerly. “That makes sense, Emmett. All we need is for the Volturi to pause for one moment. Just long enough to _listen.”_

“We’d need quite a show of witnesses.” My voice was brittle.

Esme nodded in agreement, as though I had not been sarcastic. “We can ask that much of our friends. Just to witness.”

“We’d do it for them,” Emmett pointed out.

“We’ll have to ask them just right,” Alice murmured, her eyes once again going glassy as she searched out visions of this new and terrifying future. “They’ll have to be shown very carefully.”

“Shown?” Jasper queried, and everyone’s eyes went to Renesmee.

“Tanya’s family,” Alice went on robotically, her eyes seeing far beyond the present. “Siobhan’s coven. Amun’s. Some of the nomads- Garrett and Mary for certain. Maybe Alistair.”

“What about Peter and Charlotte?” Jasper pressed, and I could tell he was afraid to have his old friends involved in the coming massacre.

“Maybe.”

“The Amazons?” Carlisle said tentatively. “Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna?”

Alice was motionless, her eyes still glassy and unfocussed as she searched, and then seemed to come back to herself with a shudder. “I can’t see.”

“What was that?” Edward demanded. “That part in the jungle…are we going to look for them?”

“I can’t see!” Alice repeated, and I noticed suspiciously that she was refusing to meet his eyes. “We’ll have to split up and hurry- before the snow sticks to the ground. We have to round up whomever we can and get them here to show them.” Alice’s hands were trembling. “Ask Eleazar. There is more to this than just an immortal child.”

Edward was staring at her, his face confused as he absorbed what she was saying, both the spoken and unspoken.

“There is so much…” she whispered tonelessly. “We have to hurry.”

“Alice?” Edward asked, clearly frustrated. “That was too fast- I didn’t understand. What was-?”

“I can’t see!” she burst out at him. “Jacob’s almost here!”

I rose from the sofa. “I’ll deal with…”

“No!” Alice grabbed Jasper’s hand and began pulling him towards the back door. “Let him come. I’ll see better away from Nessie too. I need to go. I need to really concentrate. I need to see everything I can. I have to go. Come on Jasper, there’s no time to waste!” Her voice, high and thin, spoke faster and faster as she dragged Jasper away. Confused, he let her take him and the two of them darted out of the door and into the night.

“Hurry!” Alice called back to us. “You have to find them all!”

“Find what?” Jacob bounded through the front door, shaking water from his hair like a dog, his eyes on Ness. “Hey, Bells! I thought you guys would’ve gone home by now…”

I watched him, feeling coldly detached, as he took in our stillness and the tension that crackled through the room, the shattered remnants of the vase still scattered across the floor. “What?” he asked finally. “What happened?” He crossed the room and went down to his knees beside Bella and Renesmee. “Is she okay?” I could feel the heat radiating from him as he knelt beside me, his hands stretched out to touch Ness, to feel her warmth and heartbeat and life. “Don’t mess with me, Bella, please!”

“Nothing’s wrong with Renesmee,” Bella choked.

“Then _who?”_

“All of us, Jacob,” Bella whispered, and her voice was as cold and desolate at the wind. “It’s over. We’ve all been sentenced to die.”

Jacob stared at her, his jaw clenched. “No.”

“It’s the Volturi,” Carlisle said to him lifelessly. “They know about Renesmee and they’re coming…Alice has seen them. They believe she is an immortal child. A human child bitten and made vampire, the act of which is considered the most heinous sin in our world…there is no mercy and no forgiveness for those who break that rule, and Aro believes that is what we have done.”

“But she’s NOT! You just have to EXPLAIN!” Jacob said wildly.

“They won’t listen,” Carlisle told him softly. “Not now, not when it is our family involved and Aro has come to distrust us. Distrust me.” My heart ached for the sorrow I heard in his voice- Carlisle was so idealistic, and once upon a time Aro had been both his mentor and friend.

“So we fight them,” Jacob said, and his voice broke as he looked at the sleeping child beside him. “You can’t just give up and let yourselves be killed without a fight!”

No one answered that. No, we wouldn’t give in without fighting but it was a suicide mission and we all felt it. Unless Alice saw something else, unless we somehow managed to carry out Emmett’s plan and gather witnesses enough to make the Volturi pause…we were all facing the final death.

The night dragged as we waited for Alice. Emmett laid his hand on the back of my neck, under my hair, and his thumb traced tiny circles on my skin. Apart from this movement, imperceptible to the others, we all sat silent and still, stone effigies of the people we had once been. Jacob phased into his wolf form and went to share the news with Sam, returning to the house impossibly quickly, unable to bear being away. He slept in the corner, a mountain of fur and heat and snoring slumber, but for once I didn’t even blink an eye.

It wasn’t until the sun rose, the very early rays falling through the back windows of the house and glinting off Edward’s skin that anyone moved. Edward blinked, and then said one word, “Alice.”

The sound broke the spell we had all been sitting under, and there was a sudden uneasy rustle of movement around the room.

“She’s been gone a long time,” I said, realising just how long it had been.

“Where could she be?” Emmett muttered, rising to his feet and taking a step towards the door.

Esme touched him lightly on the arm. “We don’t want to disturb her.”

“She’s never taken so long before,” Edward said, and although I had not thought I could feel more afraid than I already did there was a swelling of panic inside me. “Carlisle, you don’t think- something pre-emptive? Would Alice have had time to see if they sent someone for her?”

Emmett swore, loud enough to startle Jacob awake, and then we were all a blur of motion as we ran.

“Stay with Renesmee!” Bella screamed at Jacob, and then she was ahead of Esme and I, her newborn strength making her easily as fast as Edward and Carlisle.

“Would they have been able to surprise her?” Carlisle queried.

“I don’t see how,” Edward said. “But Aro knows her better than anyone else. Better than I do.”

“Is this a trap?” Emmett called from behind, a tone of doubt in his voice.

“Maybe,” Edward said, not ruling anything out. “There’s no scent but Alice and Jasper though…where were they going?”

We followed their trail, the familiar scent we knew so well. I tried to think of nothing but tracking them, not daring to think ahead to what we might find. Alice, Jasper… _no, no, no!_

The trail wove a wide arc, and we followed it over the river and then back again, all of us on tenterhooks.

“Did you catch that scent?” Esme called ahead to Carlisle and Edward, gesturing to the southeast near the river. She was the furthest back, on the far left edge. “Did you smell that?”

“Keep to the main trail- we’re almost to the Quileute border,” Edward ordered in answer. “Stay together. See if they turned north or south.”

I could smell the wolves, making it slightly more unpleasant to keep my senses alert for the scent of Alice and Jasper. Then the odour grew stronger and Edward jerked to a sudden stop, the rest of us skidding to a halt behind him.

“Sam? What is this?” Edward asked.

A moment later the big Quileute leader came through the trees in his human form, flanked by two big wolves. He walked towards us so slowly I could have screamed, but at last he reached us. I saw Edward’s face as he read Sam’s mind and I reached behind me, blindly searching for Emmett. He had my hands by the time Sam began to talk, his eyes on Carlisle.

“Right after midnight, Alice and Jasper came to this place and asked permission to cross our land to the ocean. I granted them that and escorted them to the coast myself. They went immediately into the water and did not return. As we journeyed, Alice told me it was of the utmost importance that I say nothing to Jacob about seeing her until I spoke to you. I was to wait here for you to come looking for her and then give you this note. She told me to obey her as if all our lives depended on it.”

He handed Carlisle a note, written on a page torn from a book. Carlisle opened it and read it, and for a moment he closed his eyes before he said tonelessly, “Alice has decided to leave us.”

“What?” I couldn’t stop my cry. Alice? My sister for over fifty years, and Jasper…they had left? The betrayal felt like acid burning in to my heart.

Carlisle read the note, in the same flat, hopeless voice. “ _Don’t look for us. There isn’t time to waste. Remember- Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair, all the nomads you can find. We’ll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way. We’re so sorry that we have to leave you this way, with no goodbyes or explanations. It’s the only way for us. We love you._ ”

It was true. Alice and Jasper had left us. 


	31. Abandoned

The wolves’ heartbeats and breathing sounded loud in the ensuing silence. I gripped Emmett’s hands in mine behind my back, feeling the answering hard squeeze as he absorbed this blow. Alice and Jasper gone…how could they have abandoned us?

“Yes, things are that dangerous.” Edward’s face was hard as he looked at Sam, obviously answering the unspoken from his head.

“Enough that you would abandon your own family?” I could hear the censure in Sam’s voice.

“We don’t know what she saw,” Edward said stiffly. “Alice is neither unfeeling nor a coward. She just has more information than we do.”

“ _We_ would not…” Sam began arrogantly.

“You are bound differently than we are,” Edward snapped. “ _We_ each still have our free will.”

Sam’s body trembled, and for a moment I braced myself for him to phase. But he remained calm, and when Edward spoke again his tone was more conciliatory.

“But you should heed the warning,” he told Sam. “This is not something you want to involve yourselves in. You can still avoid what Alice saw.”

Sam flung his head back. “ _We_ don’t run away.” Behind him one of the wolves snorted, and beneath my terror I felt the first flickering of rage.

“Don’t get your family slaughtered for pride,” Carlisle said gently.

Sam’s face was softer when he turned his eyes from Edward to Carlisle. “As Edward pointed out, we don’t have the same kind of freedom that you have. Renesmee is as much a part of our family now as she is yours. Jacob cannot abandon her, and we cannot abandon him.” His eyes darted towards Alice’s note and his face was grim.

“You don’t know her,” Edward said intently.

“Do you?” Sam asked bluntly.

 _Did_ we? For the first time my eyes met Emmett’s and I saw reflected there my own doubt and confusion. Until this moment I would have said without hesitation that _of course_ I knew Alice, I knew Jasper…but never would I have believed that they would leave us at a time of need.

Carlisle put his hand on Edward’s shoulder. “We have much to do, son. Whatever Alice’s decision, we would be foolish not to follow her advice now. Let’s go home and get to work.”

Edward’s face was immobile, but he nodded slightly and turned for home. I squeezed Emmett’s hand convulsively before I dropped it, hearing Esme’s tearless sobs but unable to even reach out a hand to comfort her.

“ _I’m_ not going down without a fight,” Emmett snarled, his voice low. “Alice told us what to do. Let’s get it done.”

_Oh my beloved…I hate to watch you fight, but I love that you want to do it!_

We ran back towards the house, steadier now than the earlier panicked flight following Alice and Jasper’s trail, dreading what we would find. Was the reality that they had left voluntarily better or worse than our fears that she had been taken?

By the river Esme paused, her head lifting. “There was that other trail. It was fresh.”

“It has to be from earlier in the day,” Edward said glumly. “It was just Alice, without Jasper.”

Bella stopped beside Esme, looking towards where the trail led with a frown. “I want to follow the trail,” she told Edward.

“It probably just leads to the house,” he said blankly.

“Then I’ll meet you there,” she answered quietly.

Edward hesitated, and then stepped after Bella. “I’ll come with you,” he said. “We’ll meet you at home, Carlisle.”

Back at the house Ness was awake, sitting on Jacob’s lap and frowning intently as he talked to her quietly. Doubting his sensitivity and anxious as to what he might be saying I moved swiftly over and crouched beside them.

“It’s okay Rosalie,” Jacob said quietly, and if there was anything that could drive home the fact we were all doomed it was that _Jacob_ used _my_ name, looked me in the eye and spoke gently. What else could that be but a sign of the apocalypse?

“Ness wanted to know what was going on and why everyone’s so worked up,” Jacob told me. “I said that there are some people who don’t like our family very much, and that they might be coming here soon.”

“Jacob’s right,” I said to Ness. I wished she could have remained in blissful ignorance, kept her safe and shining world a place of love and happiness without these dangers threatening to shatter it, but I knew it was not possible. “But Carlisle has some other good friends who might come and help us defend ourselves and protect you.”

Nessie reached towards me and for once Jacob surrendered her without hesitation, letting me take her in my arms and hold her close, burying my face in her curly hair and breathing in the sweet smell of my beloved girl. She touched my face, and I couldn’t help smiling. “I know baby, your momma would fight them. And Emmett too…they’d kick some butt.” I met Jacob’s eyes over the top of her head, and for once there was no animosity, the two of us in complete agreement over doing _whatever_ we had to in order to protect Renesmee.

“I think Edward and Bella should stay here,” Carlisle said rapidly. “It may be difficult to introduce Renesmee and make our friends stay long enough to understand, and Edward’s mind reading makes him the best choice to do the persuading there.” He considered for a moment, looking from Esme to Emmett and over to me. “I’ll call Tanya immediately and ask them all to come; and then Esme and I will head to Ireland I think,” he went on. “Alice said Siobhan and her coven would come, so we’ll start there. We can then go to England and perhaps try Alistair, before we go to Egypt and speak to Amun. I don’t think we can risk approaching any of the European nomads- we don’t want word to get back to the Volturi that we know of their plans.”

Emmett nodded in agreement. “Rose and I will go looking for nomads here then,” he said. “If we swing over to New York we should be able to get hold of Garrett, and he always knows more about where the others are. We’ll just have to play it by ear a bit.” He looked at me and raised his eyebrows with a grin. “What do you think, you feel like a trip to the big city, baby doll?”

Renesmee frowned at Emmett and held my cheeks with both hands. I tipped my face forward and rested my forehead against hers. “I’m sorry Nessie, but Emmett and I are going to have to go away, just for a short while. We need to look for some people.”

Nessie scowled, and without meaning to I laughed at how absurdly like Edward she looked- oh, how many times had I had that very same scowl directed at me from her father? “Oh gorgeous, we’ll be back very soon! We’ll bring back some more friends for you,” I said, hoping I was telling the truth and our trip would prove successful. “You can stay here and make things nice for our guests when they arrive.”

Nessie looked at me with serious brown eyes and stroked my cheek.

“I know- I don’t really want to go away either,” I said quietly. “I’ll miss you. But sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do Ness. Sometimes we don’t have any choice if there’s a chance we could help the people we love.” I carried her over to Jacob and for a moment the two of us were eye to eye as I reluctantly passed the baby to him. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Stay safe,” he muttered, so low that at first I wasn’t sure I could have heard him correctly. But as Ness briefly held both of us and his burning arm touched my cool skin as he took her from me, I realised with a kind of despairing acceptance that for as long as we both loved Ness the way we did Jacob Black and I were inextricably linked. I sighed and nodded at him, brushing Nessie’s hair back from her forehead, and then flew upstairs to change.

I made it downstairs, changed and with a few things tossed into a bag, just as Bella and Edward returned.

“We’re to stay here?” Edward asked Carlisle unhappily.

“Alice said that we would have to show people Renesmee, and we would have to be careful about it,” Carlisle said. “We’ll send whomever we can find back here to you- Edward, you’ll be the best at working that particular minefield.”

“There’s a lot of ground to cover,” Edward said sharply.

“We’re splitting up,” Emmett told him, finishing lacing his boots and standing up. “Rose and I are hunting for nomads.”

“You’ll have your hands full here,” Carlisle said. “Tanya’s family will be here in the morning, and they have no idea why. First, you have to persuade them not to react like Irina did. Second, you’ve got to find out what Alice meant about Eleazar. Then, after all that, will they stay to witness for us? It will start again as the others come- if we can persuade anyone to come in the first place.” Carlisle sighed. “Your job may well be the hardest. We’ll be back to help as soon as we can.”

Emmett nodded at me and held out his hand. I took it, feeling better just for the strong and familiar touch of him, and did my best to smile at Edward and Bella.

“Good luck,” Edward told us soberly.

“And to you,” Carlisle replied. “We’ll all need it.”

I blew a kiss to Ness and then sped to the garage with Emmett, Esme and Carlisle. Carlisle and Esme took the Mercedes and, with a last hug, drove off to the airport. I hesitated by the BMW.

“It still smells like vomit,” I muttered, knowing that we had far more important things to worry about but unable to stop myself complaining. “It takes nearly two days to drive to New York…”

Emmett chuckled wickedly, and snatched a second set of keys from the board and threw them to me. I looked down at them, feeling my mouth curve up in a treacherous grin. “Edward will kill me…”

“Hey, this is all _his_ fault, and we’re saving _his_ ass…” Emmett said with a smirk.

“Oh, what the hell, we’re all going to die anyway,” I said with a hysterical laugh, and then slid into the driver’s seat of Bella’s brand new Ferrari and started it up, unable to stop my whine of pure pleasure as it roared into life.

Emmett slid into the passenger seat, eyeing me with amusement. “You know Rosa girl, this thing you have about cars is beginning to turn into a fetish…”

“Shhhh!” I flapped my hand dismissively at him. “Listen to it, Emmett, listen to that engine…oh god, what a _waste_ this car is for Bella!” I tore down the driveway, before adding absentmindedly, “It’s hardly a fetish…and you can’t tell me you have a problem with me dragging you out to the garage to have my wicked way with you on the hood of a sports car either.”

“Hey, no-I’m not complaining!” Emmett chuckled, looking at me with dark eyes. “You know, this Ferrari hasn’t seen any action…”

I laughed, and for a moment this could have been any road trip as Emmett raised his eyebrows and winked at me suggestively, and terror seemed very far away as his hand slid up my thigh.

“Sorry Em,” I said to him, with genuine regret. “We don’t have time right now.”

Emmett sighed and slumped back in his seat. “No, I don’t suppose we do.”

For a long time I focussed on the road before I said, hesitatingly, “What do you think Alice is doing?”

“No idea,” Emmett said shortly.

“I can’t believe that she’d really leave us…” I said softly, my hurt evident. “And Jasper too- when has he ever run from danger?”

Emmett shook his head and rubbed his face wearily. “I know. It makes no sense…but who knows what Alice saw?”

“I’d feel better about fighting the Volturi if Jasper were still with us,” I muttered. “You know how much I love and respect Carlisle, but he’s hardly the stuff military generals are made of.”

Emmett snorted. “What about me?”

I flashed him a half-hearted grin. “Well, you’re a better bet than Carlisle I suppose.”

Emmett smiled at me, but there was a thread of steel underlying his words when he spoke. “We’re not completely helpless if it comes to a fight. I _know_ it’s not a game of Warhammer, but don’t forget I’ve spent the last fifty odd years playing war games with Jasper and I’ve picked up a lot of his theories in that time. He taught ALL of us a hell of a lot when we fought those newborns and we have that experience behind us now. We’ll have the wolves on our side too.”

“It won’t be enough,” I said, and my voice cracked. “Not against the Volturi.”

Emmett stared out the windscreen and didn’t look at me. “It’s all we have, so it has to be enough,” he said flatly. “Or else we’d better hope pretty damn hard that it doesn’t come to a fight.”


	32. Keeping Faith

“It just hurts, you know?” I said some time later, my voice thin. “That Alice and Jasper could leave us, no matter what the reason, without some kind of explanation or at least saying goodbye.”

“Yeah.” Emmett ran his hands through his hair, briefly gripping his skull between his palms. “But I just think…she _must_ have had a reason, you know? There _has_ to be something we just can’t see yet.”

“Maybe she saw that we’re all going to die,” I said bleakly, “And she saw a way to save Jasper and herself.”

“No,” Emmett shook his head stubbornly. “I don’t believe that. Alice wouldn’t be that callous, and Jasper…he’s never run from a fight, even if he thought it was hopeless.”

“He would to save Alice,” I said softly. “You know he would Emmett- I believe he loves us, but he’d kill us all himself if it would save Alice.”

Emmett slammed his fists into his thighs with a sudden outburst of fury. “Don’t! Jesus Christ baby, stop it! Don’t say shit like that!” he snarled.

I hit the brakes, and the car skidded in a wide, looping arc off the side of the road, coming to a halt only inches from the barrier. It was beautifully done, but I was too angry to appreciate my own work as I turned on Emmett. Not even really angry at _him_ , but furious at the way fate seemed so determined to bring us down and _needing_ , somehow, to hit out. “What?” I hissed aggressively. “You’re saying it’s not true? They _left,_ Emmett.”  

 “Of course it’s fucking true!” Emmett shouted. “We’ve always known that the family came second to Alice as far as Jasper’s concerned! That doesn’t mean he doesn’t give a shit about the rest of us; and you know as well as I do that with the fucking Volturi and their goddamn trackers involved that there’s no running away from this!” His big hands grabbed my shoulders and he shook me fiercely. “But I _cannot_ and _will not_ believe that this is hopeless Rosalie! They’re not running because of that, they’re running to find something…Alice has a plan, and for whatever reason we can’t know about it, but _she has one_ , I believe that!”

For a moment we stared at each other, our faces only inches apart as Emmett’s eyes blazed with anger. But then he groaned deeply and leaned forward, pressing his face into my breasts, so that my arms automatically went around him, my lips in his soft hair. “I have to believe it,” he said, his voice muffled.

“Emmett…” I whispered.

“I believe it,” he said hoarsely. “I believe it, I have to…because how else can I go ahead if I think there’s no hope and I’m going to lose you?”

I kissed him, fierce and savage and desperately loving. Didn’t care about the steering wheel digging me in the back or the gear shift jabbing me in the leg as I half fell across his lap, arms wrapping around his neck and fingers digging in his hair as our mouths met. Couldn’t even spare a thought for the occasional car whizzing by us on the highway as we devoured each other, fear and anger turned to heat and passion and an overwhelming desire to be together.

“ _I love you!”_ Emmett growled, his hands tangled in my hair and his teeth hard and sharp against my lips. “I will not blindly hurl us in to danger, I won’t…Alice has a plan, we do our part and she’ll come through in the end…believe that…I love you, I love you…”

I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to get enough clothes off and fit ourselves together in the limited space of Bella’s Ferrari, but overwhelming love and lust and sheer desperation counts for a lot, and we managed. And when it was over and Emmett was kissing me, slow and wet and deep, I thought that maybe even dying wasn’t so bad, not when I had known such perfect, beautiful peace in life.

“I love you,” I whispered into his neck, inhaling the scent I knew so well and feeling the strong arms that had held me together for seventy years wrapped around me again. _My beloved._

“I love you too,” Emmett looked at me with dark eyes, and his jaw set stubbornly. “Don’t lose faith angel girl, not now…it might be all we have. And belief can be a powerful weapon.”

I touched his full lips and stroked a hand across his smooth cheek. Oh, I wanted him to be right! To believe as he did that Alice had a plan and hadn’t abandoned us! I wished, not for the first time, that I had even a little of the boundless optimism and belief in the goodness of those he loved that Emmett carried in his heart every day without faltering.

Below me Emmett shifted awkwardly. “I have to say though baby, that this car really isn’t made for this kind of thing…not on the inside anyway, I mean I’ll bend you over the hood and do you that way if you want, but it’s pretty damned cramped in here.”

I laughed and untangled myself as best I could. “Wow, what an offer…but I agree with you that this really isn’t the most comfortable place I’ve ever had you.” Squirming back into the driver’s seat I adjusted my clothes and then paused briefly to kiss him. “But we’ve got to keep going anyway. We need to find Garrett- Alice said we would, but I notice she didn’t stop to tell us where!” I started the car again and roared down the highway towards the city.

We reached New York in the afternoon and I navigated the chaotic city traffic, Bella’s red Ferrari attracting a lot of attention. I was glad when we reached the warehouse the family had owned since the 50’s and I opened the automatic doors and drove in.

Inside there was room to park several cars, as well as several comfortable couches and armchairs, a flat screen television, a stereo, a crowded bookcase and a table and chairs. In one corner was a bathroom behind glass bricks and in another was a fully appointed (and never used) kitchen. It was the perfect place for a vampire hangout during sunny days in the city when it was needed.

“What happened to the bed?” Emmett asked, stretching as he climbed out of the car.

“We broke it last time,” I said absently. “Guess we didn’t replace it.” I pulled my laptop out of the back of the car and sat at the table with it.

Emmett sprawled out in an armchair and closed his eyes, and for a time the only sound was my impatient fingers on the keyboard.

“Any luck?” Emmett asked eventually.

Deliberately looking out vampires was an odd business. It wasn’t as though we could all advertise our presence on Facebook after all! But there were places that vampires tended to lurk in various cities all over the world and there were ways and means of leaving messages for those you sought out. The vampires that our family had befriended over the years tended to keep in touch sporadically too, and that gave us a starting point for looking for them. And while vampires might not be on Facebook, the internet and computer hacking also made finding vampires a lot easier than it used to be, if you knew how to look. Police databases and computerised homicide records were practically a guidebook to the most heavily vampire populated locations in America.

I frowned at the screen as I scrolled. “I’m in the police database looking at murder reports…I’ve found a few that seem pretty likely to be the work of one of our kind. Same general area that Garrett usually favours…he was here in New York the last you heard from him?”

“Yeah, he should be here.” Emmett came and stood behind me, peering at the screen. “Alice said she saw Garrett and Mary for sure, so we’ll find them. I was thinking of Randall too. If we go across to California we might find him and he’ll come, for Carlisle.”

I nodded thoughtfully, clicking through several links and into a different database. “I’ve been trying to think of nomads to look for too but it’s not that simple. We can’t take _too_ much time, so I think we have to cross off ones like Louis and Elizabeth who never stay in one place. They could be anywhere. And going too far down south is too risky- if the warmongers there catch even a hint of trouble you know they’ll swoop down and stir it up just to see what they can get out of it. We’re taking a real risk just letting the word out that we’re looking for people.”

Emmett scowled. “We’ve got enough trouble with the Volturi on our tails without that.”

I made a face as I read through some more cases. “These killings must be vampires. If we’re lucky it’ll be Garrett, although the FBI are on to it so that’s not so lucky for him. God, he’s really not careful, is he?”

“None of them care baby doll, you know that.” Emmett shrugged. “Humans are just food to them.”

“And now we’re inviting them all to come to Forks?” I looked up at Emmett. “Does that really seem like a good idea? If the Volturi don’t come for another month, how is that supposed to work with a bunch of blood drinking vampires in a small town?”

“Maybe we’ll convert them?” Emmett said with a grin, that faded shortly after as he ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know baby doll, I really don’t. It’s not something I can do anything about either.”

“I know,” I sighed. There was so much we couldn’t do anything about now…

“I’ve got a pretty fair idea of where Garrett’s been hanging out anyway,” I went on after a moment. “With luck he’ll be about tonight and we’ll run into him.” I giggled suddenly, still immersed in the FBI database. “Hey Emmett, I must have been careless at some point- _roseofjericho_ is on a hacker watch list.”

Emmett snorted. “You’d better watch yourself.”

I laughed. “Don’t tell Carlisle- he’s always been paranoid that Jas and I are going to bring the feds down on us.” My eyes scanned the list. “Well, there’s no _MajorJW_ on their list, so Jasper’s not on their radar yet. I’ll leave it alone for now. It’s just my hacker name and there’s no real information linked to it.” I shut down the laptop and began riffling through my bag. “We may as well get ready and go out as soon as it gets dark- the more places we can get to the better our chances of finding Garrett.”

I dressed carefully for our night out, replacing the jeans and shirt I was wearing with a black t-shirt, black miniskirt and thigh high boots. My hair I bound up into a loose knot on the nape of my neck, and then I shrugged into my comfortable old leather jacket and eyed my reflection critically. It would do- I’d draw every eye and I’d either be able to seduce or terrify anyone I met into giving me any information they had on Garrett.

Emmett drifted over to stand behind me, his hands resting lightly on my hips as I met his eyes in the mirror. A slow smile curved up his lips and he dipped his head to brush a lingering kiss just below my ear as his fingers trailed across the strip of bare skin between my skirt hem and the tops of my boots. “Hey pretty girl,” he murmured.

I turned to face him, breathing in the scent of him that suddenly seemed to be hanging so heavily in the air. _I want you._ I swallowed hard and then took his hand, lacing his fingers through mine. “We need to find Garrett,” I said hoarsely. “The others are relying on us to do our part.”

“I know.” Emmett looked at me for a minute, a mix of desire and laughter making his eyes glow. “We’ll find him. But when we come back here later…you can leave the boots on, baby.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, and then the two of us slipped quietly out into the New York night. For a moment the seriousness of our family’s position and the importance of our errand faded into the background as I took in the heady scent and sound and lights of the city. So many people! Below the noise of cars and bikes and the subway, the rattle of air conditioners, the clang of trash cans, the endless clamour of voices, the heartbeats sounded like a song and the scent of so much blood, so much prey moving around me with such unconcern, was almost hypnotic. Emmett breathed a sudden deep breath and I heard the low, rumbling whine of desire in his chest and tightened my grip on his hand.

“I’m fine,” he murmured to me. “It’s just…a lot, after being home for the past couple of months.”

I nodded in understanding, and then followed him as we moved through the city, striding through the brightly lit areas and crowds and heading deeper into the darker, more menacing backstreets and alleys that I would have shied away from as a human.

The first bar we went into was dark and smoky and nearly empty. It was really too early in the night for places like this to be busy, but that didn’t really matter. While Emmett headed over to the bar I walked deliberately down the room and took a seat at a table in the back corner, feeling the eyes follow me. Casually I let my eyes scan the room, reading all the graffiti scrawled on the walls and scratched into the tables, all the faded, torn notices stuck on the noticeboard.

Emmett came and stood beside me, putting a shot glass of tequila down in front of me with a grin. In his hand he held a whiskey, which he held up to his face for a moment to breathe in the smell. “Ahhh,” he sighed, a little mournfully. “Not quite the moonshine whiskey of my misbegotten youth, but damn the smell of it takes me back baby.”

I crossed my legs, knowing that everyone was watching us, and emptied the shot glass onto the floor while all eyes were on my thighs. I met Emmett’s eyes with a grin. “Thanks.” I flicked my eyebrows at a certain scrawled notice thumbtacked to the board. “He’s been here, but there’s no scent so I don’t know how long ago.”

Emmett threw back his drink in one swallow. Unlike the rest of us Emmett was quite willing to swallow human food and drink if it seemed the most helpful thing to do in the moment, not even complaining when he had to bring it all back up later. “I told the bartender we were looking for someone and gave Garrett’s description,” Emmett said to me. “He knew who I meant, but said he hadn’t been in for a while.” Emmett’s eyes darted round the bar. “We’ll try somewhere else- our scent will be here and if Garrett comes across it he’ll find us.”

Emmett and I covered ground rapidly, moving from bar to bar in the areas I’d narrowed down by the homicide reports. There was the occasional tantalising glimpse of vampire scent and I knew we were on the right track. Garrett was usually an easy vampire to track down because, although he was a loner, he liked to talk and frequently sought out human company for an evening. It didn’t always end well for the humans involved but it meant that Garrett had a presence, however shadowy and shrouded in secrecy, in the human world and we could look for that.

“May as well stop here now baby doll,” Emmett said quietly, as we entered another bar in the early hours of the following morning. “We’ve left a pretty broad trail and if Garrett comes across it he’ll know we want him and he’ll come and find us. We should give that a chance.”

I nodded, scanning the crowd and then focusing on the pool tables half obscured in the back corner. I raised an eyebrow at Emmett. “Pool?”

Emmett snorted. “Go ahead and get us a table, hustler…I’ll go to the bar.”

I giggled and made my way through the crowd. I had a shameful weakness for hustling at pool- hardly a fair contest between a vampire and a human, but it was a game I loved to play.

I was halfway through a game with an increasingly ticked off biker when an unmistakeable scent drifted past and I raised my head from taking my shot, smiling at the lean figure approaching the table. Wearing jeans and a shirt and jacket, sandy hair tied back and white teeth gleaming in his broad grin, Garrett placed his hands on the edge of the pool table and leaned forward.

“So, what’s this I hear about some shady characters that have been prowling the streets looking for me?”


	33. Our First Witness

“Garrett.” Emmett came over and the two of them gripped hands and grinned at each other. “Good to see you again man.”

“You too.” Garrett looked across at me and his mouth lifted in wry amusement as I rapidly pocketed my remaining balls and scooped up my winnings. “Rosalie darlin’…when are you going to leave this big lump and come away with me, you gorgeous girl?”

I laughed complacently. “Oh, one day, maybe…” I said teasingly, as Emmett got Garrett in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles into his skull. “Thank for the game,” I added, and smirked at the biker who was glaring at me furiously. He looked from my steely eyes towards Emmett and Garrett and then obviously thought better of it, turning and slinking off into the crowd. I snorted and laid the pool cue down on the felt, then turned to the boys, firmly taking an arm of each. “Since you’ve found us, let’s get out of here…we need to talk to you Garrett.”

The streets were dark and the three of us moved swiftly back towards our warehouse, arriving there as the sky was beginning to lighten to grey with the dawn.

“Give me a minute,” Emmett said, passing me the keys from his pocket and then leaning over by the gutter. I grimaced and turned my back as I heard him empty the contents of his stomach, the smell of whiskey permeating the air.

“You’ve had a skinful,” Garrett said in admiration, and there was a gurgling laugh from Emmett.

“Didn’t want anyone getting suspicious of us in those seedy places you hang around in,” Emmett teased him, standing up and wiping his mouth. “Come on inside dude, we’ve got a lot to talk to you about.”

Garrett whistled when he saw the Ferrari. “Nice ride,” he commented. “Your peculiar lifestyle seems to be working out for you Cullens. Now, how is my old friend Carlisle? And wee Alice? How’s she getting along these days?”

I felt a sharp stab of disappointment and said, too quickly, “You haven’t seen Alice?”

“No,” Garrett eyed me curiously. “Should I have?”

I shook my head. “No.” I hadn’t realised until he asked about her how much I had been hoping that when we found Garrett we would find out something about Alice’s flight.

Garrett had known Carlisle long before the rest of us had been changed, but he had also known Alice since very early in her vampire life, years before she joined our family, or indeed even had Jasper. Whoever made Alice had abandoned her even before she woke and it had been Garrett who had taught her about the vampire she had become and how to navigate her way through a human world. They had been friends ever since, and I guess that a tiny part of me had hoped that he was someone she might have come to.

“We don’t know where Alice is,” I said slowly. “She left our family a couple of days ago…we’re kind of in trouble.”

Garrett’s smile vanished and he leaned towards me, frowning intently. “What are you saying Rosalie? Alice left _because_ there was trouble?”

“I don’t know!” I snapped, my hurt turning to anger. “She’s not _here_ , is she? I don’t know why she left us!”

“Easy baby,” Emmett said soothingly, a heavy hand on the small of my back.

I took a deep breath. “I need you to listen to me Garrett. Please. Listen to all we’ve got to say before you make up your mind…we need your help. We all do.”

Garrett’s eyes were alight with curiosity. “I’m intrigued. Go on then, dear Rosalie, tell me all about it.”

“Edward found a mate,” I said slowly. “A human girl named Bella.”

“A human!” Garrett exclaimed. “You can’t be serious!”

I laughed and the tension was suddenly eased. “That’s what I said!”

Emmett chuckled. “Yeah well, you know Edward’s always been an odd one. And of course, being Edward, he had to agonise over it all and make it a million times more complicated than it should have been!”

I rolled my eyes, remembering all the drama we’d been dragged through since Bella Swan turned up in Forks. “Emmett’s not wrong about that. But to cut a long story very short, Edward and Bella married while she was still human. They went away on a honeymoon and the plan was to change her when they returned.”

Garrett shook his head. “You Cullens are moving away from being charmingly eccentric to being plain crazy. Am I to take it then that things didn’t go quite to plan?”

“Not quite. Bella got pregnant,” I said bluntly. “And she gave birth to a half human, half vampire baby before Edward bit her and changed her.”

Garrett was shocked beyond speech. He simply stared at me, red eyes wide with disbelief.

I flicked on my phone and, almost hesitantly, pulled up a photo and held it out to him. “This is Renesmee.”

Dumbly Garrett took the phone from me and stared at the picture for a long moment. “You can’t be serious…it’s not possible.”

“I am deadly serious,” I answered flatly. “Make no mistake Garrett, this is more serious than you can imagine….the Volturi know about her. They believe she’s an immortal child and they’re coming for her…coming for all of us.”

Garrett’s lips tightened and his eyes darkened to crimson. “The Volturi.”

“They’re wrong about Nessie,” I said feverishly, taking my phone back and scrolling rapidly through the pictures on it, showing Garrett her progression in reverse. “They’re wrong! See- she’s not an immortal child, she’s half human and she’s growing and changing every day! She’s so clever Garrett, she’s always learning and she’s never out of control. She understands already about the secrecy we live under.”

Garrett looked at the pictures silently, and then looked up at me. “And what’s the Volturi’s interest in it all?”

“We don’t rightly know,” Emmett said frankly. “Someone saw Ness and…well, they misunderstood is all, but their memories have given Aro the excuse he needs to come after us. Alice has seen it- they’ll be here before the month is out.”

Garrett was frowning. “So you’ve come to find others to fight with you? Well, you know I’ve never been one to shirk a fight when it’s something that matters…”

“Not fight with us,” Emmett interrupted. “We’re hoping it won’t get to that. While we aren’t fully sure about what it is that’s driving Aro, he’s hanging his attack on the idea of Ness being an immortal child and us breaking the rules there and he’s wrong. We haven’t done anything wrong, and if we can just get them to stop for a minute and listen they’ll realise that. That’s what we’re asking of our friends- just to stand with us. Meet Ness, see that she’s nothing dangerous or sinister at all, and witness to that with the Volturi. That’s all.” Emmett ran his hands through his hair and gave a sudden dimpled smile to Garrett. “Course, I can’t _promise_ that there’s not going to be some kind of fightin’ involved…we might get lucky!”

 _Oh Emmett!_ I elbowed him hard in the ribs and snatched my phone back from Garrett as he grinned at Emmett. “We’re asking you to stand with us and witness,” I said sharply. “But you shouldn’t be under any illusions Garrett, because this is dangerous. From what Alice said the Volturi have made up their minds, and they’re not known for their mercy.” I bit my lip, torn between my natural honesty and the desperation that would drive me to any lengths if it meant I might save Nessie, save all of us, from the Volturi’s wrath. “If Aro wants our family destroyed it doesn’t seem likely that anything will stop him until it’s done,” I said finally, so softly I wasn’t even sure at first that Garrett would hear me. “And even if you’re only there as a witness you risk being caught up in that Garrett...we’re asking you to help us but we’ll understand if you can’t.”

“I’ve never been afraid to die,” Garrett murmured absently, taking back my phone and peering intently at the pictures of Renesmee. “I’ve never seen anything the like of this little lass…she’s got Edward’s face on her, that’s for sure, and I would never have thought that would have made for such a pretty little girl!”

Emmett guffawed. “Wait til she scowls at you dude! Monster is just like a teacup Edward in a dress.”

I felt my heart lighten as I thought of the sweet baby. “So you’ll come then? At least meet her?”

Garrett gave me his rogue’s grin. “Ah Rosalie, when have I ever been one to turn down an adventure?” For a moment his smile faded. “I don’t understand about wee Alice though- she’s seen the Volturi coming for you and she’s run?”

“No,” Emmett said roughly. “I mean…yes, she’s gone, but she’s got a plan. I’m sure of it.” He set his jaw stubbornly. “She and Jasper wouldn’t go off and leave us without a damn good reason, and sacrificing us to save their own skin isn’t reason enough.”

“Alice told us to go and gather witnesses,” I said to Garrett. “She said you would come, the Denali and the Irish and some of the others too. Carlisle and Esme have gone to Ireland and will go to Egypt after that to speak to Amun. Emmett and I came to find you, and we’re going to look for some of the other nomads…can you point us in the right direction?”

Garrett leaned back in the chair and folded his hands behind his neck thoughtfully. “Well, there’s a challenge. I’ve been in the city for a while now and there aren’t any of our friends here. Last person I saw was Mary…you know, Mary, don’t you?”

I nodded, although I didn’t know her well. Mary was a red headed vampire from Canada who had been changed in 1918, around the same time as Edward although she was ten years older than him. She preferred to live a solitary life in the cold wilds of Canada, but had spent some months with Carlisle and Edward in the early 1920s and considered them some of her closest friends and allies.

“I think you’d find her somewhere around Toronto,” Garrett went on, and I flipped open my laptop and began working my way into the databases I wanted. “Funny these vampires who don’t want to go too far from wherever was home. Louis was in Virginia last I caught up with him, but that was six months ago and I couldn’t make a guess as to where he’d be now.”

“We didn’t think we’d find him,” Emmett murmured. “We thought we might look up Randall, he’s usually in California and pretty easy to get hold of.”

“He’s another one who stays close to home,” Garrett said speculatively. “Yes, you should go look him up. Did you plan to head down south and get Maria and her cronies involved in this, play on her connection to Jasper to ask her for help?”

“No,” I shook my head. “She’s not loyal to Jasper in any real sense- all she cares about are her own interests and she and her associates will stir up trouble just to see what happens. We don’t want them coming up north and starting anything.”

Garrett nodded. “Understandable. There’s a few that usually stay down in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas area…Mina and Remy and Garland, they all know Carlisle and would come. But I should warn you that there’s been some trouble down there, Maria has been coming further out of Mexico than usual.”

Emmett shrugged. “We’re on a bit of a time crunch too, so I think we’ll stay away from them. Carlisle’s set on avoiding a fight too, and if we bring the power hungry warmongers into it we’re going to look like we’re gathering an army rather than witnesses.” There was a faint note of regret in his voice. Emmett was not really one for politics and power games- he preferred the more straightforward route of a bare fisted fight. He would charge into battle with all the gallantry and pride and foolish belief in his own invincibility of the millions of doomed young men who had fought and died before him.

“I’ve found a homicide report that sounds like it could be one of ours,” I said quietly. “From yesterday- a town quite close to Toronto, body drained of blood, ‘animal’ teeth marks…it’s probably Mary.” I sighed. “Well that’s at least a bit of luck for us Emmett, she’s not too far away.”

“You’re tracing us through the law maker’s computers now?” Garrett asked me with interest.

I nodded. “They think you’re some kind of serial killer.” I clicked through to the California records. “I’ve got some searches going and hopefully we’ll come up with something to narrow down Randall’s movements. California’s a big state and I don’t fancy having to track him on foot. I want to get back home.” I looked over at Emmett. “I hate being away right now- Ness will be growing and changing and I’m missing it.”

Emmett wrapped me in a bear hug. “I know baby. Just a few more days.”

A few more days…when the days we had remaining to us were so few and precious? I bit my lip and pressed my face into his chest, my heart aching. 


	34. Looking Backwards

Emmett and I left the warehouse around midday. Garrett, sprawled out on the sofa and enjoying the tv, promised to lock up and take the keys to Forks with him when he set out after dark.

I drove fast, my face set, as the beautiful New York state countryside flashed past us and the memories swirled in my mind. Because this had once been my place, a long time ago when I was a very different Rosalie to now…

“Angel girl…where are we going?” Emmett asked tentatively, as I took the highway exit.

“Detour,” I answered shortly, and after looking at my face Emmett said no more.

The city of Rochester rose up before us as I drove, the city skyline glowing with the reflected sunlight of late afternoon. So different to the way it had been seventy years before, and yet still something about it called to a place deep inside me, the place where I hoarded my human memories so possessively. _I wasn’t always this thing that I am now! Once upon a time I wasn’t a monster!_

This city had once been my home, and once I was married to Royce King and with the King money and influence behind me I had believed it would all be mine for the taking. But seventy years ago Carlisle had carried me from the streets, broken and bleeding and near to death, and until now I had never returned. Never even thought I’d want to. But somehow, as the spectre of death at the Volturi’s hand loomed large, my mind had returned to my first death, when I had been wrenched away from my human life.

“That was my house.”

I had parked the car in a wide, tree lined street, and my voice sounded loud in the sudden quiet. I didn’t look at Emmett, but stared ahead of me at the gracious brick building that had once been my home. The yard around it was gone and at some point, probably during the seventies, our large single family home had obviously been separated into apartments. Very little of the original architecture remained although as my eyes roamed I saw that underneath the dirt the leadlight windows still bordered the front door. Of all the things to survive, that fragile, beautiful glasswork had stood the test of time when so much else had not…

As the sun dipped below the horizon I was out of the car, standing on the sidewalk in front of the house, my hands clenched into fists in my jacket pocket although my voice was light when Emmett joined me and I spoke again. “We had a wrought iron fence and climbing roses over the porch, and it was just our house of course, not apartments then. We had a large garden too, and there was a big oak tree just over there that reached up to my window. I could have climbed out that way if I’d wanted to…I never did, but somehow it was a comfort, knowing I could.”

  Emmett’s brows were lowered and he looked at me steadily. “I don’t know how you remember it all.”

_I was so loath to let it all go that I fought to remember it. And then when I wanted to wipe it from my mind, when it would have been easier to let it all go…I couldn’t forget even when I wished for oblivion._

Abruptly I turned away from the house and walked rapidly down the street, my body unconsciously remembering the way as I traversed the streets until I reached what was now the old Rochester cemetery.

At the gate Emmett caught my arm and, for a moment, held my stiff and unresponsive body close to him as he ducked his head to look into my eyes. “You want to do this? You’re sure?” he asked.

I nodded. Morbid, macabre maybe… but I wanted to know.

The old King family monument dominated the graveyard, but even from the corner of my eyes I could see that it was mossy and fallen into disrepair, the pillar cracked and some of the stone angels that surmounted it missing noses or fingers or even, in one case, their wings. I knew Royce would be buried there, and for the first time it occurred to me that when I’d killed him I’d brought their family name to an end here in Rochester. His father had lost his brothers in the war and then Royce had been an only child…I turned my head away.

The Hales were buried closer to the side fence. I remembered coming here and burying my grandfather and later my grandmother, and visiting the small grave of the older brother I’d never known. Now, as I stepped carefully along the overgrown paths and skirted some of the cracked stones, I could see the markers that had been added since my time.

 _Jeremiah Richard Hale, beloved husband. Daphne Marianne Hale, beloved wife._ My parents. The dates beneath showed their deaths had come within a year and a half of each other, some twenty years after I had disappeared from their lives.

“They lived a long time, in the end,” I said quietly. “I hope they were happy…after.”

Emmett wasn’t paying attention. Instead he was looking at the small stone cross beside them, half obscured in the deep shadows. There was a curious blankness in his face as he reached out a hand and traced the letters carved into the mottled stone. _In memory of Rosalie Lillian Hale._

   For a moment I froze, and then looked at Emmett with my eyes wide as a wave of hysterical, completely inappropriate laughter threatened to overwhelm me. “I didn’t think…when would they have done that?” I dropped to my knees beside him, and touched the letters gingerly, taking in the bizarre sight of my own name carved onto a gravestone. “Exactly how long do you wait when your only daughter goes missing before you decide that she’s dead?”

Emmett shook his head. “Buggered if I know.” He looked at me and his lip quirked. “Damn this is weird…I’m married to a dead girl.”

I laughed, only a little hysterically. “You always have been! You know that!”

“Yeah, but it’s a different thing to see it carved in stone…literally.” Emmett ran his hands through his hair distractedly. “Can we go now?”

I looked at him with more than a hint of surprise. “You don’t like cemeteries?”

“I don’t like this one!”

I touched his hand gently. “Emmett…”

He shook his head irritably. “I don’t want to think about…about you dying. Don’t want to think about dying myself either, to be honest! But losing you angel girl, I can’t face that.” He wrapped his arms around me, holding me so close and so tight that he lifted my feet off the ground as he rubbed his face in my hair and breathed in my scent.

“I just wanted to see if my parents were here,” I said slowly, when he set me down. “You know, I remember so much more of being human than you do…and somehow the idea of facing the final death at the hands of the Volturi has made me think about it all again. About what it was like to die before…what it was like to live.”

I sat down on my father’s grave and Emmett dropped to a crouch in front of me, his eyes on mine. “This city was my home. This is where I was born and grew up, and where I would have died if Carlisle hadn’t found me. This is where it all began for me…everything started here.” I reached out to touch him, my beloved vampire man who had become my touchstone in the shadow world we inhabited.

“I don’t know if I believe in fate Emmett,” I went on quietly. “I think of you and I, and what we have between us when we’re together, and I think that this is something that simply had to be. I can’t imagine a world without _us_. But I look back and see how many random chances and inconsequential decisions led me to this point…and I get scared that I could lose you just as suddenly as I found you.”

Emmett leaned towards me and kissed me, and there was a world of pain in his golden eyes when they met mine once again. “I can’t promise you that you won’t,” he said, and it was only that I knew him so well that I heard the slight unsteadiness in his voice. “You know I won’t lie to you Rosa girl. I believe that the Volturi have annihilation in mind and what we’re building towards with them is dangerous as hell. It’s not in my nature to hang back from a fight…but I know the risks.”

I gripped his hands and raised them to my lips, kissing his knuckles. “Promise me you won’t be needlessly reckless.”

“I will, if you promise me one thing too.” Emmett’s eyes were intent. “Promise me you will keep fighting angel girl…no matter what happens to me. Keep fighting the Volturi, keep fighting anyone or anything that threatens to bring you down…promise me.”

 _Whatever happens to me…_ My hands tightened convulsively around his fingers. “If I don’t have you…”

“No!” Emmett shook his head fiercely. “No way, Rosa girl… _you will not die for me._ Not with the Volturi, not ever! I don’t want that from you. I want to go into this fight – if it ends up in a fight, and it might not – knowing that you are going to be your strong and fierce and badass self. I already know that you will give it your all in a battle, but I need to know that you will go on afterwards too because _that’s_ what I’m fighting for. I’ll fight for you and Ness, and everyone else, to be _able_ to go on afterwards. I’m fighting so that you can all keep on living, and if I go down then that’s just the price we have to pay…but if you go and throw yourself away because you think you can’t live without me, then that’s a shitty kind of thanks!”

My laugh quavered in the deepening twilight, and I saw Emmett’s white teeth flash as he grinned at me.

“I mean it,” he said, bumping his forehead against mine. “It shouldn’t matter - cause I’m not gonna let the bastards beat me! – but you have to promise me all the same. No fucked up heroics or sacrifices…if I’m going on to the next world I want to go knowing that there’s still an angel down here on earth.” And he kissed me, with the heartbreaking tenderness of seventy years love on his lips, and I promised him.

For a time we sat in silence. I knew we still had a long way to go and that time was precious, but the peace of the old graveyard stole into my heart as the sky darkened to black, broken by the pinpricks of stars and the pale quarter moon. I found myself contemplating the gravestone that bore my name, and remembering how much I had raged about losing my human life and having this half-life of the vampire thrust upon me back in the beginning.

“I wouldn’t have chosen this life,” I said softly to Emmett. “If Carlisle had asked, if I had been able to answer, I wouldn’t have chosen it. But sitting here with you now and looking back on everything…I’m glad he didn’t ask.”

Emmett leaned casually back against the headstone and pulled me on to his lap, his strong arms holding me close as his big hands stroked my hair.

“I wouldn’t have known that there would be _you_ ,” I went on quietly. “I would have told him to let me die, and I would have missed out on the most amazing thing I could have ever know…you, and everything you’ve given to me. I would never have got to be _me_ either…I resented him so fiercely for it at the time, but Carlisle gave me this vampire life and he gave me the freedom to use it any way I wanted to. Becoming what I am trapped me here in this shadow world, but it kind of set me free too.”

“I have never wanted to be anywhere other than right next to you,” Emmett said simply. “From the moment I first saw you, there has never been anything else for me but this.”

I moulded myself against him, and kissed his neck and pressed my face against his chest, loving the familiar and beloved feeling of safety and ecstasy he gave me. “I think I’m starting to understand it now,” I said, my voice a little muffled as I leaned against him. “I’ve always hated that we’re not human…but humanity isn’t just a heartbeat, and blood pulsing through your veins. It’s feeling all this- love and devotion and compassion and friendship and family…I think that maybe I’m starting to finally understand what Carlisle has been reaching for all along, and finally starting to see just how extraordinary it is.”

“It’s not just Ness we need to protect,” Emmett said soberly. “I don’t pretend to know the politics behind it all, but Aro has it in for us. Ness is his excuse, but it’s the family he wants to destroy and we can’t let him. Because you’re right…it is extraordinary, and it deserves to be saved.” In one swift move he rose to his feet and slid me around on to his back, where I wrapped my legs around his torso and my arms around his neck with a laugh. “And now pretty girl, we need to get on with saving the world. Because it’s either that or get naked, and frankly having sex in a cemetery on your gravestone is just a step too far, even for me.”


	35. Feeling Lucky

Emmett and I crossed the border to Canada at Niagara Falls shortly after leaving Rochester. Our passports were, as always, excellent forgeries and prompted no questions although I was disgusted to be held up by the border guards as several of them surreptitiously examined the Ferrari enviously.

I parked the car at a 24 hour diner outside Toronto and then Emmett and I continued on foot, making our way to where the homicide I suspected was the responsibility of a vampire had taken place. Sure enough the distinctive scent was all over the dark, shadowy corner of the park. Imperceptible to humans, the scent was as obvious as a signpost to us, and Emmett and I looked at each other and nodded confidently. It was Mary.

Emmett was probably the best tracker in the family, having already been an expert at it in his human life before he ever tried hunting as a vampire. I was not too bad either, mostly because it was a skill that could be improved with practice and I had always tried too hard at anything that I might possibly become better at than Edward! So the two of us moved quickly and mostly in silence, following the overlapping, muddled scent trails as best we could, always moving towards the freshest ones. While vampire interactions were often fraught with tension, most of the north American vampires knew each other and no one had any reason to be particularly wary, so fortunately for us Mary had made no effort to hide her tracks.

We found her early the next morning. Wearing a pair of filthy jeans and a man’s plaid shirt and hunting cap, she was perched high in a tree in the forest, her long red hair hanging around the sharp face that was eyeing us with interest.

“Hell, but you two are loud.” She grinned at us, and swung lightly down. “It’s a miracle you ever catch anything, crashing through the forest like elephants as you do.”

“Just giving you fair warning we were coming,” Emmett said easily. “It’s been a long time Mary…how have you been?”

“Can’t complain.” Her gleaming crimson eyes took in my golden ones with a quirked eyebrow of amusement. “All still on the wagon then? No one’s joined the dark side?”

Emmett chuckled. “Not yet, not yet…”

“Well, I’d wager you’re not here just for the pleasure of my company,” Mary said, carelessly picking leaves out of her hair. “So what’s brought you here to my neck of the woods?”

I glanced at Emmett. “Edward and Carlisle sent us,” I said. “They…we _all_ need your help.”

“Aye? And what is it I can be doing for you?” Mary said sceptically.

Once again I held out my phone, showing a photograph of Renesmee. “It’s about her,” I said. “Renesmee.”

“Fuck me dead!” Mary leapt twenty feet back into the tree and glared at us balefully. “Immortal children? What the hell have you been up to, and what makes you think I’d ever get involved in such a fucking mess?”

“It’s not what you think!” I said. “She’s _not_ an immortal child…she’s Edward’s _daughter.”_

Mary sneered at me. “I wouldn’t have taken you for such a bald faced liar, Rosalie Cullen…I’ve heard the stories of the immortal children and the massacres and bloodshed that followed, and I’ll have no part of it. Christ on a cracker! I would have thought Carlisle would have had more sense!”

“She’s Edward’s daughter!” I said desperately. “Please Mary, just listen to what I have to say! He married a human and he got her pregnant and…”

Mary laughed scornfully. “As though I’m going to believe that! What do you take me for?”

“I take you for someone who knows Edward well enough to know that if there’s any vampire in the whole damn world who is uptight enough, repressed enough and just plain weird enough to have sex with a human and not kill them it would be Edward!” Emmett said with a relaxed laugh.

At that Mary hesitated. She did, indeed, know Edward.

“We didn’t believe it either,” I said to her. “Not until we saw Bella’s belly growing bigger day by day with our own eyes! She nearly died- she _would_ have died if Edward hadn’t been able to change her at the last minute, after we delivered the baby.”

“Let me see the picture again,” Mary said suspiciously, silently dropping from the tree to land in a crouch beside me.

“She’s not like the immortal children,” I said quietly. “She’s half human. She has a heartbeat, she sleeps, she grows every day. She can drink blood like we do or she can eat human food…although she doesn’t like it much.” I scrolled through the photos on my phone that showed Nessie in various stages of development, missing her desperately and longing to be back at home with her. “You can see how much she looks like Edward.”

“Aye, I can.” Mary pursed up her mouth. “What’s the problem then? Why are you running all over God’s earth looking for help? I’m not much of a babysitter.”

Emmett laughed. “Nothing so simple as that I’m afraid. It’s the Volturi…they know about our Ness but they think, as you did, that she’s an immortal child. Unlike you though, we don’t think they’re going to be willing to stop and listen to what we have to say before they tear off all our heads. They’re _all_ coming, not just a soldier party but the whole damn lot of them.”

Mary looked doubtful. “I don’t know that I want to get involved in a war, Emmett.”

“We’re not asking that,” I said quickly. “Really; you know Carlisle would never ask his friends to fight for him. We just want people to come and meet Ness and see the truth of the situation. If we have enough people outside the family who can witness to the truth, then the Volturi will _have_ to stop and listen, and then they’ll know we haven’t broken any rules.”

Mary deliberated, kicking her bare feet against the forest floor, digging in to the rotting leaves with her toes. “It’s not that I don’t want to help,” she said slowly. “But I like my quiet life you know. I like being well out of the way of intrigue and drama and politics.” She hesitated. “But I owe Carlisle and Edward a lot. I can’t promise anything more, but I’ll come and meet this child and see the truth of what you’re telling me. I can do that much for them.”

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “That’s all we’re asking for- just come and meet Renesmee.” There was no doubt in my mind that Renesmee would be able to captivate anyone who took the time to get to know her.

Mary nodded. “Are you two going back to your home now?” Her eyes flickered over our clothes with a slight sneer. “Missing the trappings of civilisation?”

I fought back a flare of irritation. Just because I brushed my hair occasionally and bought clothes instead of stealing them from my victim was no need to be rude.

“We’re going to California,” I told her shortly. “We need as many witnesses as we can find if we’re going to make the Volturi pause and listen to us. We’ve caught up with Garrett in New York, and now you, and we think Randall is in California, or somewhere near there.”

   “Oh, Randall,” Mary laughed. “I haven’t seen him in years. It’ll be like some kind of bizarre reunion, all Carlisle’s little acolytes together…”

“Maybe we’ll convert a few more of you,” Emmett said cheerfully. “You can join our cult!”

Mary roared with laughter. “I don’t think so! You’re a pack of freaks…I’ll leave you to your aberrations.” She bounced up on her toes. “The last I heard you were living in some god-forsaken corner of Washington state, so is that where I’m heading?”

“Yes, a little town called Forks. Get close enough and you’ll be able to follow the scent trails, we’ve been there a couple of years now and hunted all over.” Emmett hesitated for a moment and then said forcefully, “Just…go straight to the house when you get near, okay? There’s some other shit going on around there, they’ll explain it all to you once you get there, and until you understand it’s better if you’re not running around the forest on your own.”

The Quileute wolves, of course. I frowned for a minute, wondering how we were going handle that little complication. They had made and honoured the treaty with us based on the fact that we were no threat to humans, and the same could not be said about the guests we were inviting into the area. How much donated blood _could_ Carlisle get his hands on?

Mary looked at Emmett speculatively. “Very well. Straight to the house…Carlisle and Edward are there?”

“Edward is,” I told her. “He and Bella stayed behind with Ness, and so he could talk things through with anyone willing to come. Carlisle and Esme went to look up some other friends in Britain and Africa, and they’ll be back as soon as possible. We don’t have long…”

“How long?”

“Less than a month.”

Mary absorbed this news stoically. “That isn’t very long.”

“No.” I twisted my hands together anxiously. “But it’s long enough for you to see that Renesmee grows and changes and isn’t a threat, which is what matters.”

“I’ll go,” Mary said decisively. “I’d be a sad kind of friend if I wouldn’t. You have any messages you want me to pass along?”

“Nope, we’re good.” Emmett grinned. “Unlike you troglodytes, we’re hip with the new century and have mobile phones and stuff.”

Mary laughed good-naturedly. “If being hip to the new century involves sex with your fucking primary food source and creating these immortal-children-that-aren’t you can keep it…I’ll do without the cell phone.”

I snorted. “Don’t lay Edward’s eccentricities on the rest of us!” Emmett was standing behind me and I felt his hands cup my ass, his thumbs hooking into the waistband of my jeans. “No one else is having sex with the food.”

“I’ll happily eat you though,” Emmett muttered to me almost inaudibly, and I fought back a laugh and kicked him as I gave Mary some directions to Forks, and then the two of us waved her goodbye and went back to the Ferrari, ready to begin the long drive across country towards California.

As we passed through Utah I had Emmett drive for a while so that I could do some work on the laptop. Tracing what I believed was Randall’s movements didn’t take long, and then I startled Emmett as I let out a gleeful whoop. “Vegas, baby!”

Emmett grinned, half baffled. “What?”

“We’re not going straight to California,” I told him cheerfully. “Vampire activity in Las Vegas- I think it’s Randall but even if it’s not we may as well stop and see who it is. And if we should just _happen_ to see some blackjack tables that need playing…”

“It would be a sin to pass them by,” Emmett finished solemnly, his dimples flashing. “Damn baby doll, how long has it been? Remember how much fun we had in the 50’s?”

“I remember.” The 1950s, when Alice and Jasper had joined our family, gambling had become almost the biggest family bonding experience we shared. Dressing up for a night out at the casino, or dressing down for a night in some of the underground gambling dens we found, had been both brilliant fun and incredibly lucrative. Of course Alice and Edward were shameless cheats, they couldn’t really help it, but Emmett and I had loved taking our chances and playing for real.

 _Alice._ I couldn’t help frowning, and began clicking my way through several screens on my laptop, unable to stop myself from swearing softly. “I’ve just been trying to trace Alice and Jasper,” I told Emmett with a scowl. “It’s too bad she’s with Jas- he’s wiping out their electronic trail. He knows I can see all the credit cards and tell what they’re doing online… _oh_.” A smile broke across my face, and I impulsively reached across and kissed Emmett. “Jasper’s sent me a message.”

“Can you trace it?”

“No, not a chance…but that’s okay.” I grinned as I looked at the message on my screen. “He says _Leave it alone, roseofjericho. Trust me. MajorJW.”_

“You’re going to listen to him?” Emmett queried.

I nodded, shutting down the laptop and tucking it back behind the seats. “It’s Jasper, and he’s never lied to me Emmett. You _have_ to be right…Alice has a plan. They’re not running away, no matter what it looks like. Jasper would never do that- I should never have doubted either of them.” I felt strong and certain as I thought of my tall blonde ‘brother’ and dark, pixie-like ‘sister’ and for the first time felt a fluttering of optimism.

“I’m not confident that their plan will _work_ ,” I added a moment later with a touch of regret. “I mean, the Volturi is on their way and we’re probably all going to die regardless of what Alice and Jasper do or don’t do…but I believe that they’re doing something that might help us. I don’t understand the secrecy but they must have a reason. I just have to trust them.” I looked across at Emmett. “Now let’s trade places so I can drive. We’ve sent Mary and Garret back home, so we’re two for two so far. Let’s go to Vegas and find Randall, make it three for three, and then hit the tables…I’m feeling lucky.”


	36. Viva Las Vegas

Emmett and I hit the strip at dusk, the lights and noise and chaos of it swirling around us. I breathed deeply, steeling myself against the burn, and looked at Emmett with my eyes sparkling.

“I know we’re supposed to be looking for Randall,” I began with a coy look. “But we’re in Vegas and I don’t _really_ want to trawl the casinos wearing jeans or my seedy-New-York-bars outfit…”

Emmett flashed his dimples at me as he grinned. “Prada is over there and the black Amex is in your name.”

I blew him a kiss and darted towards the store, Emmett sauntering more casually after me. He took a seat on the ubiquitous ‘guy couch’ and accepted a newspaper from one of the fawning saleswomen and then winked at me cheekily. I rolled my eyes at him as I flipped through the racks. Human female responses to Emmett tended to fall in to only two categories – intense fear or unbridled lust – and it seemed that the Prada girls were in the second group.

I didn’t take long to find a dress. To be honest I knew the Prada catalogue backwards and had walked in the door knowing what I was going to buy. I only tried it on to make sure it looked as good as I thought it would (it did) and then I decided to leave it on as I chose a new pair of shoes and flounced my way back to Emmett.

“You like?” I pouted at him, noting with satisfaction the way the Prada girls eyed me speculatively and then took several steps back.

Emmett’s eyes were dark. “Very much.”

I smirked and leaned forward to give him a teasing kiss…making sure he got an even more teasing eyeful of the lack of underwear beneath the dress at the same time. I knew Emmett really couldn’t care less about clothes- all he was interested in was the body underneath them and what the clothes did to hide or reveal it. “I’m glad you like it. Just let me pay and then we can go and try and find Randall.”

Emmett’s hand stroked my bare shoulder blades. “You are such a tease, pretty girl,” he murmured.

I laughed gently and turned to the cashier, who rang up my purchases and then asked, perfectly politely, what I wanted her to do with my old jeans. I made a face. “You can toss them. Emmett?”

Hand in hand the two of us moved off down the strip. It was not an environment conducive to tracking at all, but we kept our sense alert and were rewarded with the occasional drift of vampire scent. When we found the place that it seemed freshest we stopped and went in and paused for a while, playing the tables.

I loved it. Loved that even in the over the top, tacky glittering of everything there in Vegas my beauty shone with the brilliant clarity of a perfect diamond. My vanity was fed by the admiration and envy I saw clear on so many faces in the crowd. I loved that people looked at me and saw only perfection…that in their eyes I could, just for a moment, forget about all my scars and flaws and baggage and _be_ that beautiful woman that they saw.  I loved flirting with the good looking croupiers and dealers, knowing that Emmett was watching me and it was making him hot; knowing that even as he smiled at me indulgently he was planning what he was going to do to me later when we were alone. I loved the exhilaration of gambling and knowing that, despite the money represented in the chips I was betting with, it really didn’t matter if I won or lost.

When I did lose, fairly spectacularly I must admit, I graciously rose and gave up my seat, turning to Emmett with a coquettish smile. His eyes glittered and his teeth gleamed as he grinned and took me in his arms, and I felt myself shiver as his hand brushed the length of my spine.

“I’ve got my eyes on you,” he murmured. “You’re a wicked flirt Rosalie Hale McCarty…don’t forget you’re mine, pretty girl.”

I stood on my toes and nipped at his lower lip teasingly. “Oh, calling me by your name…you’re bringing out the big guns there, Emmett!”

Emmett laughed. “Just making sure you remember who you’re married too.” For a minute I felt him rubbing his semi-hard cock against my belly, and then he pushed me away. “Go on…go play, baby doll. Win us a fortune.”

I might have been feeling lucky but clearly I was no Alice when it came to predicting the future. Within an hour and a half I had wiped out the thousands of dollars in chips Emmett had filled his pockets with, and I all I could do was shrug ruefully and jump down from the table with a last wink at the dealer. I found Emmett playing roulette with the last of his chips and once he’d lost them (we really were having a bad night!) I took his hand and the two of us melted into an out of the way corner.

“You look happy,” Emmett said, looking down at me with a quizzical smile. “I thought you just lost all our money…shouldn’t you be throwing things and threatening to rip off people’s heads?”

“I’m not that bad!” I protested, and then giggled. “Okay, sometimes I guess I am! But not tonight.” Impulsively I hugged him. “Thank you for bringing me here tonight Emmett. I needed this.”

I didn’t have to articulate what _this_ was- Emmett knew. He nodded at me with a tender smile. “I know baby, I needed it too. We were watching Bella die for what felt like so long, and then there’s been everything with Ness to worry about, and now the Volturi on our backs…I’ll be damned if I want the last months of my vampire life to be nothing but grim worrying!” He laughed joyously. “Fuck it all…I want to watch my beautiful girl flirt her way through the casino and know that at the end of the night she’s coming home to me and I’m the lucky bastard who’s gonna get to take that pretty dress off and enjoy what’s underneath…”

 _Oh, my beloved…what it is you do to me!_ Suddenly the air felt like it was crackling with electricity and I made an inarticulate noise of want as Emmett’s eyes on me turned dark and my breathing quickened. A slow grin broke out on his face and he reached into his pocket and withdrew a card.

“I got a room. Just in case you wanted…”

I didn’t let him finish. “Now.”

I kissed him through what felt like the slowest elevator ride of my existence, and I had him half undressed by the time we fumbled the card into the slot and pushed our way into the hotel room. I kicked the door shut behind me as I fell on my knees, tugging at his trousers and boots to remove them, kissing and mouthing at whatever parts of him I could reach as he groaned helplessly and tangled his hands in my hair.

“Sweet hell baby doll…oh, my angel girl…” Emmett’s words were garbled as he gathered my hair together and used it to guide me back onto my feet as I shimmied my way out of the dress so we were both nude. “Please…” he breathed, flinging his head back and closing his eyes as I sucked and nipped at the hollow of his throat. “Jesus, baby…yes, yes…”

I pushed him backwards onto the bed and straddled him, kissing him deeply as his hands moved from my hair down my body, sliding along my back and over the curve of my hips, fingers light and gentle and seeking and… _there. Oh god, Emmett…_

“ _Yes…”_ I said huskily. “Oh please, now…” And then there weren’t any words, nothing but the smell and taste and feel and sound of Emmett and the pleasure of the two of us together.

At least, there wasn’t anything else until I heard a noise at the door and looked up to see a recognisable face as someone stood calmly in the doorway. Then there were rather a lot of feelings of rage, of embarrassment, and sheer, howling frustration as I stopped what I was doing, tore myself away from Emmett and wrapped myself in the sheet in the blink of an eye. “Fuck you Randall!”

“No thank you Rosalie, it’s a tempting offer but you’re not my type.” Randall smiled at me beatifically, and then his eyes drifted to Emmett. “Emmett…how lovely to see you again.”

I snorted. I might not be Randall’s type, but I knew who was! I grabbed Emmett’s pants and tossed them in his direction, and with a frustrated groan he yanked them on.

“Dude! You couldn’t have just _waited?”_

Randall grinned amiably and dropped in to an armchair. “I’ve been waiting. And waiting, and waiting…”

“You’ve never heard of knocking?” I muttered peevishly.

“I knocked,” he said patiently. “You ignored me. I did consider going away and returning later on, but I’ve no more chips left you see, so waiting wouldn’t have been very much fun. And really, I’m so curious to know what has you here in Las Vegas! I could only smell the two of you…the others aren’t here?”

Emmett shook his head and sat up. “Just Rose and I, and we’re actually here because we’re looking for you.”

“Really?” Randall’s cherubic face was bright with curiosity. “Do tell.”

Looking at him, I wondered if Randall would come once he knew the risks. We had met Randall in 1963, very shortly after he’d been turned by Maria, the same vampire who had made Jasper a hundred years earlier. Unlike Jasper though, Randall was quite possibly the least temperamentally suited vampire to that lifestyle of constant war that Maria had ever created. Even as a newborn, with the newborn thirst, Randall was exceptionally good natured and had a profoundly relaxed attitude to life. He was also incredibly, abidingly lazy. Nothing bothered him, and he avoided anything that even hinted at requiring effort…not exactly the soldier material Maria was looking for! But Randall had a kind of naïve and artless sweetness about him and instead of slaughtering him when he proved so useless to her, Maria (in one of the more inexplicable actions of her existence) set him free.

Randall had made his way from Mexico back to his home in California where, still not really understanding his new vampirism and the uncontrollable nature of his blood lust, he had attempted to return to his family only to kill them all. It was at this point that Carlisle, in California for a medical conference, had found him and bought the eighteen year old vampire home to us. It was Carlisle who helped Randall come to terms with his new life and Randall had responded to him with everlasting gratitude and affection.

He’d stayed with us for a while after that. He was so cheerful and amicable that no one could dislike him, although his laziness and refusal to make an effort at our vegetarian diet had inevitably led to tension. Particularly with Jasper, who had been relatively new to our lifestyle then and fighting his instincts with grim determination every day. I have to admit that Randall also infuriated me on a regular basis, partly because of his careless indolence and also because of his unabashed crush on Emmett. He had left in the end because he was unwilling to endure the deprivation of an animal blood diet and lacked the motivation required to make such a sacrifice happen. There had not been any ill feelings between any of us at his leaving though, and we’d all remained friends and kept in touch sporadically.

“So that’s the situation,” Emmett finished his explanation with a shrug. “Edward and Bella have this half vampire, half human daughter. The Volturi think she’s an immortal child and now they’re gunning for us. We’d rather not meet the final death just yet and we’re looking for our friends to come and stand by us, to witness to the truth of what Nessie is and make the Volturi pause.”

“Amazing,” Randall murmured. He scratched his hair thoughtfully. “But what of Alice and Jasper? You’ve told me that Edward is at your home and Carlisle and Esme are looking up friends in Europe, but you’ve not mentioned Jasper or Alice. Are they no longer with you?”

“Not just now,” Emmett said casually. He didn’t elaborate, and Randall didn’t pursue the topic.

“Well, I suppose I may as well go up and pay a visit,” he said after thinking briefly. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen Carlisle, and I admit I’m rather fascinated by this offspring of Edward’s. You two will be returning to your home now?”

He’d said ‘you two’ but his eyes were only for Emmett, who dimpled at him as he answered, “Rose and I have got a couple of things to take care of first, but we’ll be back in a day or two. Unless you know where any of the other vampires are so we could catch up with them? We’ve seen Garrett in New York and Mary just outside of Toronto and they’re both going to Forks…you don’t know where anyone else is?”

Randall shook his head. “I’ve been on my own for a while. You know this part of the country isn’t a popular location for our kind. I had been spending some time further south with Remy, but he’s getting a little too mixed up with Maria and the issues down there and I wasn’t enjoying it so I’ve stayed clear for the past few months.” He sighed. “It will be rather pleasant to go visiting and have some company for a little while.”

“Carlisle should be back by now, and he and Edward will fill you in on all that’s going on- for such a small town Forks has a lot of shit going on behind the picket fences,” Emmett said, before he gave Randall directions to our house and then added cheerfully, “It shouldn’t take you too long, and Rosalie and I will be just a day or two behind you. You can tell them that.”

Randall smiled, eyes lingering on Emmett’s bare chest just a little too long, and then rose languidly to his feet. “I’ll be on my way then. I’ll see you two again soon…perhaps not _in flagrante delicto_ next time though?”

Emmett snorted and I rolled my eyes and flipped my hair back as Randall vanished back out the door.

“Freak,” I muttered, and then looked at Emmett questioningly. “I thought he was the last nomad on our list. What else do we have to take care of before we go home?”

“This.” Emmett unwound the sheet I had wrapped around my body and growled in satisfaction when I was naked again. With deliberate, unhurried movements he began tracing the contours of my body with his hands and lips and tongue. “We’re just gonna take care of this…” he murmured, his hands tangling in my hair and drawing me close enough to kiss him.

The scent of him, the touch of him on my skin and the feel of what he was doing to me! I buried my face in the curve of his neck and shoulder, licking and biting and kissing. “We’re supposed to get back as soon as we can…” I mumbled, disoriented by the undeniable, overwhelming lust that was making me burn.   

“We’ll be home soon enough. The place is going to be crawling with vampires and werewolves and god knows what though, and all that can just wait one more day.” Emmett reared above me, his eyes almost black as they fixed on mine. “You and me, angel girl…we can take tonight. One more night, just for us, because whatever other shit needs our attention doesn’t matter more than this.”

    _One more night, just for us…_ “Yes,” I breathed, and my hand curved around the beautifully masculine jaw that I knew so well. “We can take tonight.” And I kissed him again, and once more gave him my body and reaffirmed that he still, always, had my heart. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say a word about the nomads I’m writing about here. Garrett obviously played a reasonable role in the books, getting together with Kate and doing his speech and all, but I haven’t paid that much attention to it to be honest so I don’t know if that characterisation is consistent with canon or not. It is consistent with Garrett as I wrote about him in In Waking and Dream (my fic about Alice becoming a vampire).  
> Mary and Randall- they’re barely mentioned in the books and rate only a scant paragraph each in the Guide with almost no info beyond the date of their transformation and where they were originally from. It didn’t even say who made them, so obviously all Mary and Randall character and backstory is completely made up for this.   
> I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing, because you’ve just made this my most reviewed story ever, lol. But mostly just because I love talking writing and Twilight in general, and I’m really enjoying getting to do that with this fic!


	37. Not Ready to Say Goodbye

The hours that Emmett and I spent together that night were close to rapture. It had always been our way, to turn to each other physically to strengthen and reinforce our connection, and that night we put everything but each other aside. No Volturi, no Renesmee, no family, no abandonment or betrayal…nothing but the pure bliss of the two of us together. And in the intimacy of that closeness and vulnerability I found the strength and courage I needed to face what was waiting for us at home.

I drove fast on the way back to Forks. I had treasured the time spent with Emmett, but both of us were anxious to be at home with the family after over a week away. During the seventeen hour drive I picked up three speeding tickets and managed to escape with a warning on two other occasions which made me wish savagely for Alice’s foresight. I was never pulled over when I was driving her around! It seemed Bella’s Ferrari was even showier and attracted more attention from law enforcement than my beloved BMW.

I parked in the garage at home and had barely turned off the ignition when my door was tugged open and the tiny figure of Nessie came scrambling in on to my lap, flinging her arms around my neck and squeezing me as hard as could.

 _So happy you’re home missed you Emmett people come momma daddy friends Volturi funny Jacob laughing hunting missed you!_ A frantic jumble of pictures and words and emotions flooded my mind as Ness tried to tell me about all that had happened in her little world while we were gone, and I felt my stone vampire heart crack with the sheer joy of feeling so loved.

“I missed you too, darling girl,” I whispered into her hair, noting the height and weight and maturity she had gained in my time away.

Emmett leaned across and Ness took one arm from around my neck, stretching out to wrap him in her hug too. He caressed her hair, and laughed gently as he was assaulted by her excited tangle of emotions and words as she touched him.

“Whoa Loch Ness, you’ll have to slow down there!” Emmett said to her. “I can’t keep up.”

Ness sat back a little and beamed at us. “I’m so happy you’re home!” She gave us both smacking kisses on the cheek. “There’s so many people here now and there’s so much happening and…”

“Renesmee, are you even going to let your aunt and uncle get out of the car?” Bella sounded amused as she came around the rear of the car and grinned at me. “Welcome back!”

I grinned back and stepped out of the car, keeping Ness in the crook of my arm. “It’s good to be back.”

Bella reached out and touched me on the arm, giving me a gentle squeeze that was probably the closest thing she dared to a hug. “Thank you both. Garrett and Mary and Randall are all here…thank you for finding them.”

Edward appeared behind her, looking from the Ferrari to me with his eyebrows raised. I shrugged apologetically.

“Don’t kill me Edward. I know I took it without asking but the BMW still smells like vomit and…”

“It’s fine,” Edward shook his head. “It’s not as though Bella’s ever going to appreciate it the way you will! How did it go?”

“Ooohhh…” I sighed dreamily. “It’s gorgeous Edward!”

“Yeah, it’s brilliant, Rose loves it, not big enough to have sex in comfortably, whatever,” Emmett said dismissively. “More importantly, what’s been going on here?”

“You didn’t…in my car?” Bella sounded scandalised.

“Best not enquire too deeply, my love,” Edward said to her hastily, frowning at Emmett with deep disapproval.

“All the friends came,” Ness volunteered. “From Alaska and Ireland and Egypt and England and everywhere!”

She touched my cheek and I saw her greeting our friends one by one, and saw their reactions to her. I saw the initial terror or suspicion giving way to incredulity and then the dawning look of enchantment as Renesmee had charmed them all. I recognised most of the faces and as Ness shared her thoughts of them I ‘met’ the ones I didn’t: our Denali cousins; Siobhan, Liam and Maggie from Ireland; Amun, Kebi, Tia and Benjamin from Egypt; the three nomads Emmett and I had sent; Carlisle’s appallingly unsociable friend Alistair from England had even come; Peter and Charlotte, sent by Alice and Jasper…

“Peter and Charlotte?” I asked quickly. “Alice and Jasper sent them? Did they have any messages?”

“No,” Edward said tersely. “No message. Alice and Jasper caught up with them in Minnesota, but that doesn’t tell us anything about where they were heading, really. They asked them to come but didn’t explain why or make any promises about seeing them again.”

I felt a stab of disappointment, but then remembered Jasper’s message on the computer and took heart. _Trust me_ , the Major had said and, until there was more evidence to the contrary, that was what I was going to do.

Emmett hauled himself out of the car and stretched, before he thumped Edward hard on the shoulder. “Good to be home again. Carlisle and Esme are back then?”

“We returned a few days ago.” Carlisle and Esme appeared in the doorway and came swiftly over to us, where Esme embraced me briefly. “It’s wonderful to have you back.”

“So what’s been happening?” Emmett demanded. “What have we missed? Everyone good with Monster, and convinced that she’s not a risk?” He took Ness from me and tossed her in the air. “You’ve convinced everyone of how smart you are, Loch Ness?”

Renesmee shrieked as Emmett spun her through the air, laughing as he caught her by the ankles only inches before she hit the floor. He tossed her up in the air again, judging the throw perfectly so that her flying hair brushed the ceiling but nothing else touched it, before he caught her and gave her back to me. Folding his arms across his chest, he focussed his attention on Edward. I hugged her close, listening intently.

“We think we have a greater insight into the Volturi’s motivation now,” Edward said, his voice hard. “Eleazar had some very interesting information.”

I knew Eleazar had spent a long time as part of the Volturi guard before he and Carmen had found each other and then left Volterra, eventually joining our Denali cousins’ coven in Alaska. He had more knowledge and insight about the Volturi and the way they functioned than most outsiders, and I frowned reflectively as I listened to Edward.

“We believe now that this isn’t really about Renesmee at all,” he said flatly. “Alice said that it felt like their decision was made and Irina bringing her tales was just the catalyst they were waiting for. This didn’t make any sense though, until we talked to Eleazar and were able to put together the context, to look at this in relation to their other actions against covens in the past.” Edward glanced at Renesmee and then looked across at Bella. “Perhaps you could take Renesmee inside?” he suggested quietly.

Bella nodded, and I reluctantly passed the child over. I didn’t want to let her go so soon, but I knew that what Edward was going to tell us was important. I wanted to understand what was happening, try and make sense of how we’d so suddenly and unexpectedly found ourselves facing a death sentence.

“Eleazar had not put it all together before this latest plan of the Volturi, and now talking with me about it,” Edward said rapidly, once Bella and Ness were out of earshot. “You know he was involved with the Volturi and was with them on several punishment expeditions. He saw the way evidence was produced and a coven condemned and the executions carried out. He also saw that Aro would usually save at least one member of the coven whom he would claim was particularly repentant. This was always seen as evidence of his mercy. What has not been clear until now is that the one saved was not random. Aro went to punish a coven for their misdeeds knowing who he would pardon…always someone with a gift, always someone who could be useful to Aro if they to join the Guard which they inevitably did.” Edward hesitated. “Aro’s actions and his methods are not only about upholding the law…they are about acquisition.”

“He wants Nessie?” Emmett’s voice was low and rough.

“He will,” Edward said tonelessly. “When he realises what she is, when he thinks about what he might learn from her, he will want her then. Right now he doesn’t know that though. Renesmee is just the excuse…can you not see who it is Aro would really be coming here for?”

“Alice,” I breathed, feeling sick. “He wants her because she can see the future and once he has that in his hands…”

“And you,” Emmett said bluntly to Edward. “You can read minds- that’s got to be useful for someone like him.”

“Aro can read minds if he touches you,” Edward pointed out. “Yes, I would be useful to him and I’m sure he might try to recruit me, but it’s Alice he wants so desperately that he would see all the rest of us slaughtered on such a pretext. Remember I saw into his mind when we were in Volterra last year, and Aro has never wanted a talented vampire the way he wants Alice.”

“She’d never join them though,” I said certainly. “She wouldn’t.”

“She might not have a choice,” Edward said bleakly. “That is another thing that Eleazar has been able to illuminate for me- how it is that the Volturi Guard remain so fiercely loyal. Apparently one of their number, Chelsea, has a gift that enables her to strengthen and loosen bonds between vampires. She not only keeps the Guard dedicated and loyal, but she is able to break bonds between other vampires. This allows Aro to punish some members of a coven without the other members even attempting to defend them.”

Instinctively my hand reached towards Emmett, meeting his fingers as they grasped at mine. “No,” I said. “She couldn’t…” In my head I saw it, reckless and daring Emmett earning their wrath and me standing dispassionately aside… _No. Not my beloved. Not Emmett._

“Eleazar doesn’t think she is able to break bonds between mates,” Carlisle said reassuringly. “Nor does he think that our family bonds, nourished over this much time and in this environment, can be as easily affected…”

“But we don’t know,” Edward said brutally. “We can’t know that for sure, since there has never been a coven like ours before.”

“It’s not all bad news though,” Esme interjected. “Eleazar was also able to identify Bella as a shield.”

“A shield?” Emmett repeated blankly.

“She can block many other vampire gifts,” Carlisle explained. “You know that Edward has never been able to hear her thoughts as he can others, and that when she was in Volterra Jane’s power to inflict pain had no effect on Bella. She’s also immune to Kate’s power.”

“A shield, huh…that might come in handy,” Emmett murmured thoughtfully. I assumed he was thinking about how Bella’s immunity might be useful in a battle situation, and when Edward growled at him a moment later I was sure of it.

“She’s not a...a… _weapon,_ Emmett!” Edward hissed. “You can’t use her like that!”

“She is as much a weapon as anyone else here, Edward.” There was no trace of the joker in Emmett’s face as he looked evenly at Edward, and his voice was low and fierce when he spoke again. “We are all standing up to the Volturi to save the family Edward, and Bella is fully one of us now. Everyone else is on the line. If the Volturi have their way and we don’t win, _everyone else stands to lose just as much as you do_ and you shouldn’t forget that.”

Edward’s face contorted with pain. “I’ve only just found her…and Renesmee.”

“Yeah, I know that,” Emmett said, his voice gentle. “But dude, for someone who reads minds you’re pretty blind to what’s right in front of your face sometimes…you think I don’t love Rose like you love Bella? You think what Carlisle and Esme have together is any less than what you have with Bella?”

As he said my name Emmett’s hand gripped mine with unusual fierceness and I turned my head slightly to look at him, acknowledging his astuteness. Oh, Emmett charged through life like a bull, turning everything into a joke so he could laugh at it…and yet when he stopped and looked around him and thought about things he could be astonishing in his insight. Because yes, this was about so much more than Bella and Edward and Renesmee now, and all of us would bear the consequences were things to go against us.

For a long moment there was silence, and then Edward slowly nodded. “I hear what you’re saying Emmett,” he said quietly. “You’re right, of course. Bella isn’t that fragile human girl any longer.” He looked down at my fingers threaded through Emmett’s, and Carlisle’s arm resting lightly around Esme and went on, a little stiffly, “I don’t mean to diminish what there is between all of you either. I don’t forget that it was the four of you and your example that showed me what was possible when it comes to love. I wanted what you had, and it took me ninety years to find her. I’m not ready to say goodbye so soon.”

Emmett raised our clasped hands to his lips and kissed my knuckles, his eyes looking at me tenderly. “Me either Edward,” he murmured. “And that’s why we’re going to do whatever it takes to get through this with as little damage as possible. Cause I sure as hell don’t want to say goodbye either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who’s hanging in there and reading this and messaging me. I’m sorry that I’ve slowed down on the updates a little- real life has just been a bit messy and inconvenient and writing has had to take a backseat to other things. I’m still going though, still loving my Rosalie and Emmett and getting to play with the Breaking Dawn story, and I promise that I’m going to keep on with this and finish it.


	38. Talented Houseguests

As Emmett continued to talk with Edward and Carlisle I slipped inside from the garage. The house was humming with the energy of so many vampires contained within it, and I paused for a moment to assess the new scents swirling through the air, identifying the known and trying to match up the new with some of the unfamiliar faces I could see.

Ness was perched on the back of the sofa and I headed towards her, almost instantly being accosted by the all too familiar and unwanted smell of wet dog as Jacob rose from where he was sitting in front of her. Jacob was gazing at Ness with a look of adoration, a look that fell from his face with almost comic haste when he saw me in the doorway.

“Oh,” he said, clearly disgruntled by my return. “You’re back.”

“Please, rein in your enthusiasm,” I said dryly. “You’re overwhelming me, dog.”

“I’ve got a new joke for you. What do you call a blonde with half a brain?” He didn’t wait for my answer but chuckled as he answered himself. “Gifted!”

I ignored him as Kate, sitting on the other sofa, grinned at me in greeting. “Rosalie! You’re here at last; how are you?”

I couldn’t help but notice that Garrett was seated beside her, his long legs stretched casually out in front of him, his body just a fraction closer than you would expect for a casual new acquaintance. He nodded to me with a wicked grin, but didn’t rise.

“I’m glad to be home,” I answered honestly. “It’s good to see you again too, although of course the circumstances aren’t ideal.”

Kate nodded soberly. “Yes. Tanya and I, we feel so terrible that Irina has brought such trouble to your family. If only she had come home before she thought to go to Volterra!”

I shrugged. If Irina came anywhere near me I would decapitate her with savage glee, but there was no point in getting upset with Kate. Irina’s actions weren’t her fault. “No use thinking about what could have been,” I said lightly. “I’m just thankful we have so many good friends who seem willing to come to come to our aid.”

“Well Tanya and Carmen and Eleazar and I will stand by your sides this time, you can depend upon it,” Kate said heartily. By her side Garrett nodded agreement.

“Thank you,” I said, touched. Emmett appeared silently at my back, pulling me against him and smiling a greeting.

“Garrett, good to see you made it,” he said lightly. “And Kate…been electrocuting anyone lately?”

I couldn’t help giggling. Emmett had never quite gotten over the experience of Kate using her gift on him and shocking him into insensibility, never mind that it had happened close to seventy years ago.

Kate smiled angelically. “No Emmett, I just save that for special cases like you.”

Emmett chuckled, and Garrett looked interested. “I’ve heard a lot about this remarkable gift of yours,” he said teasingly. “Does it really live up to its reputation?”

“Why would I lie to you?” Emmett said incredulously. “You think I’d let it out that there’s another girl besides my Rosalie who can put me on my ass if it wasn’t true?”

Kate snorted. “Anytime you want to try Garrett, just let me know. But I will tell you that I have used my power to put bigger and stronger than you out before.” Her voice held a teasing note of challenge and I shook my head. Is this what passed for flirting these days?

Garrett considered for a moment, and then smiled airily. “I’ll give you a try…I’d like to see what you’ve got.”

Emmett flung his hands up in the air. “Dude! Are you insane? Oh well…it’s your skin, and don’t say I didn’t warn you!” He curved his arms around me again and kissed me behind my ear. “This should be good to watch.” He stepped back, pulling me with him as Kate and Garrett stood up.

I refrained from rolling my eyes. You’d think after two hundred years of life Garrett _might_ have matured past his boyish desire to show off…apparently not. Oh well, it was certainly going to come back on him this time.

Kate looked almost bored as she held her palm out towards Garrett. Still smirking he reached out towards her and then dropped like a stone the instant he made contact. Kate looked down at his prone body ruefully.

“Some people just won’t be told.”

Garrett shook himself back to awareness, appearing crestfallen and even somewhat foolish as he looked up at Kate. A broad smile crept over his face as he rose to his knees. “You are an amazing woman,” he said in admiration, and at that Kate laughed and held out a hand.

“Only a helping hand this time,” she said teasingly, and Garrett grasped it with his eyes sparkling as he looked at her.

I raised my eyebrows pointedly at Emmett and then we left the two of them alone and climbed the stairs to our room. As I pushed the door open I was relieved to scent that it had remained undisturbed while we were gone. With so many guests it felt like there were people in every room of the house, and despite my gratitude for their help the idea of them in this room, my private space, made me squirm.

Emmett and I showered quickly, washing the dirt of travel away and then dressed in clean clothes. Emmett was keen to go down and investigate all our guests and find out all the news, but I pulled out my laptop and sat down cross legged on the bed, typing rapidly.

“I just want to check a few things first. I know Jasper’s erasing their trail, but if he makes a mistake or if I catch something before he manages to get to it…” I sucked in my breath with a triumphant hiss. “I’ve got something. They’re in South America.”

“What?” Emmett crashed down on to the bed beside me, peering at the screen. “South America? What are they doing there?”

I stared at the computer, frowning. “Getting a lot of money out at the bank in Sao Paolo a few days ago, apparently. What would they be doing in Brazil?”

Emmett ran a hand through his hair, looking at a loss. “I’ve got no idea.”

I shut the laptop, a little too hard in my frustration. “That’s the last transaction, but they’ll be using cash now so I wouldn’t expect to see anything else.” I cast my mind back over the last few things Alice had said before she and Jasper had left. “I’m going to ask Edward,” I said decisively, jumping to my feet. “Remember just before they left, he was listening in to Alice’s thoughts and there was something about the jungle…he didn’t understand then, but maybe if I tell him they’re in South America now it will mean something to him.”

“Baby, no.” Emmett reached out and caught my wrist. “Don’t say anything to Edward.”

I stared at him. “Why not?”

Emmett stood up, clenching his fists in his hair as he shifted uncomfortably. “Alice and Jasper didn’t tell us where they were going, so I guess that means they don’t want anyone to know. I think the most likely reason for that is because what we don’t know we can’t pass on to Aro and his gang.”

“But now I DO know! At least, I know where they were.”

Emmett shrugged. “Yeah. But Aro is only going to read your mind if he touches you, and he’s got no reason to do that to you or me. He’s not interested in us, baby doll, we’re just background noise…but he wants Edward, and Ness is Edward’s daughter and there is no fucking way he’s not going to go and hold his hand and read his mind. So keep in mind that anything we say to Edward now, we’re pretty much feeding directly to Aro.”

I sat back on the bed, nodding slowly. Emmett was right of course, and I promised myself that I would be very careful about what I thought about when Edward was near. For a brief moment I wished I could take Emmett and run, like Alice and Jasper had, but I thought of Ness, and Esme and Carlisle and the family we had built, and I knew that it was impossible. As a vampire I had been born into this family and it was by their side that I would meet my end when the time came.

Emmett took my hands very gently in his and guided me to my feet so that he could hold me against him. “I love you,” he whispered into my hair. “I’m _sure_ Alice has a plan, I’m _sure_ that whatever they’re doing down in the jungle they have a reason for and we’ll find out what it is by and by…just hold on to that, angel girl. We’ve been family too long to lose faith now.”

It was only the next day that we learned what Alice and Jasper had been doing in Brazil, at least in part. Emmett and I had been hunting and were returning home when we came across an unfamiliar scent- two unknown vampires. Wordlessly we glanced at each other and began running.

I knew who they had to be as soon as I saw them, standing in the yard. The Amazon coven, or at least part of it. Their movements were pure vampire, sudden and swift before returning to absolute stillness…there was almost nothing of the human veneer with these two females. They were both long and lithe, wore clothes made of animal skins and had long dark braids and blazing crimson eyes and carried with them the scent of the jungle.

“ _Alice,_ ” I hissed almost inaudibly to Emmett, as we paused on the edge of the yard, watching as Carlisle came out to greet the new guests. “She must have found them…is that why she was in Brazil?”

Emmett said nothing, gazing in fascination at the sight before us. Neither of us had met the Amazons before. Carlisle knew them from some distant point in the past and had introduced Edward when the two of them had travelled through South America briefly sometime early in the previous century.

“Zafrina and Senna! But where is Kachiri? I’ve never seen you three apart before,” Carlisle said to them.

“Alice told us we needed to separate,” Zafrina answered. “It’s uncomfortable to be away from each other, but Alice assured us that you needed us here, while she very much needed Kachiri somewhere else. That’s all she would tell us, except that there was a great hurry…?”

“Yes,” Carlisle confirmed. “Thank you for coming, my friends. Time is short and we are in need of help.” Quickly and concisely he told them what was going on, and then Bella warily carried Renesmee out of the house.

I could tell how anxious she was about her tiny daughter in the face of the Amazon coven’s air of fierce menace, but Bella needn’t have worried. Zafrina and Senna had listened calmly to Carlisle’s tale and then greeted Renesmee attentively, allowing the little girl to reach up and touch their cheeks and greet them in return.

“Indeed, she is delightful,” Zafrina pronounced, smiling warmly at Ness who was sitting back in Bella’s arms and beaming at our latest guests. “So fascinating! We are glad to be here and offer our help Carlisle.”

“And you may be of great help, Zafrina,” Edward said enthusiastically. “We are not asking you to fight if it comes to a battle- we are not asking that of any of our friends- but if the Volturi don’t pause to listen to our witnesses, well perhaps they will pause for something you might show them.”

Bella looked confused, and Edward grinned at her and then his eyes went glassy as Zafrina used her talent on him as he described it to Bella. “It’s a very straightforward illusion. She can make most people see whatever she wants them to see- see that and nothing else. For example, right now I would appear to be alone in the middle of a rain forest. It’s so clear I might possibly believe it, except for the fact that I can still feel you in my arms.”

Zafrina looked at Bella, intrigued. “You do not see it? I have not met anyone whose eyes I cannot trick before.”

Bella shook her head, and Edward kissed her. “Bella’s a shield,” he told the Amazon’s proudly. “She’s immune to many of the talented vampires that we’ve tested her against.”

“Not all of them,” Bella mumbled, embarrassed at being the centre of attention.

Renesmee had been listening, and reached across to Zafrina, smiling winningly. “Can I see?”

“What would you like to see?” Zafrina asked.

“What you showed Daddy.”

Zafrina nodded, and then looked at Emmett and I as we stepped forward, intrigued. “You two as well?”

I nodded hesitantly. In all honesty I hated the manipulative nature of many of the vampire mind gifts. I had loathed Edward reading my mind since the very first time he opened his mouth and answered thoughts in my head rather than the words I spoke; and although I recognised its usefulness and was occasionally even grateful for it, I had always resisted the idea that Jasper could manipulate and change my emotions. After my own experience with it, Jane’s gift of inflicting pain through a trick of the mind horrified me on fundamental level, and I was not sure that Zafrina’s ability to completely fool my senses had any less potential for horror.

But I wanted to know what her gift was really like, so I held Emmett’s hand and then a moment later gasped as the cool, grey midday light of Forks vanished and I found myself in an emerald green forest, dripping with colour and life. It was so beautiful that I found myself smiling, watching the monkeys scrambling along the tree branches and hearing them chattering at each other as the birds swooped and shrieked and the air itself wrapped warm and humid around me. Only Emmett’s hand, strong and sure as his fingers wrapped around mine, kept me anchored to what I knew was real.

I heard Ness laugh, and the illusion shimmered and disappeared and I was back, blinking at the almost disorienting change in perception. Ness was giving Zafrina a dazzling smile.

“More,” she begged, and a moment later her eyes went glassy as Zafrina showed her something else.

I turned to Emmett, who shook his head in bemusement. “The crazy shit some of these vampires can do!” He grinned at me, and stroked a hand through my hair. “I wouldn’t have minded being in that rainforest for real baby doll, if you were there with me.”

“Maybe after this is all over,” I whispered. “Maybe then we can go and find it.”

 _Maybe we can…if we’re still both here to look for it._ I wrapped my arms around Emmett and pressed my face into his chest and didn’t say another word.


	39. Fight Club

Renesmee was enamoured with Zafrina and her ‘pretty pictures’ and was more than happy to sit with her under a tree later in the day while Bella dragged a reluctant Edward to the other side of the house and stood facing him on the lawn.

“Please Edward,” Bella said coaxingly. “I know I have my shield, but that won’t protect me from a physical threat And if I can’t learn to project it…” She shuddered, but went on determinedly. “If I can’t learn to project it, then I might be the only one who _can_ move to fight and I have to know how to do that!”

Edward looked tortured. “It won’t come to that, love. The Volturi will stop to listen, especially now that we have Zafrina to help us with her illusions.”

“You have to teach me,” she insisted. “Come on- I can’t be a liability if it comes to a fight.”

Emmett and I sat on the porch, prepared to enjoy this new diversion. Bella was determined that Edward should teach her some basic fight skills, just in case, but our brother seemed to feel quite averse to the idea. Nevertheless the two of them stood facing each other on the wide lawn, and at Emmett’s call they charged towards each other.

Edward pinned Bella in about half a second. But rather than continue to wrestle and let her try and get away (which, with her newborn strength, was the most likely outcome) Edward leapt to his feet and away. “I’m sorry Bella.”

“No, I’m fine.” Bella scrambled to her feet. “Let’s go again.”

“I can’t.” Edward said.

“What do you mean, you can’t? We just started. Look, I know I’m no good at this, but I can’t get better if you don’t help me!” For a moment there was silence and then Bella grinned and jumped at him. Unresisting, Edward let them both tumble to the ground, where Bella pressed her lips to his jugular. “I win.”

Edward continued to say nothing, and Bella sighed and rolled away. “What’s wrong? Why won’t you teach me?”

“I just can’t…bear it,” Edward said in a strangled sounding voice. “Emmett and Rosalie know as much as I do. Tanya and Eleazar probably know more. Ask someone else.”

“That’s not fair!” Bella pouted. “You’re good at this! You helped Jasper before- you fought with him and all the others, too. Why not me? What did I do wrong?”

Edward sighed. “Looking at you that way…analysing you as a target. Seeing all the ways I can kill you… It just makes it all too real for me! We don’t have so much time that it will really make a different who your teacher is. Anyone can teach you the fundamentals.”

Beside me Emmett huffed impatiently. “Damn, but he’s tragic!” His eyes sparkled as he looked at me. “Will he ever learn how much freaking _fun_ this shit is when you’re doing it with your mate?”

Remembering the trail of damaged homes, destroyed furniture and rearranged natural environments Emmett and I had left behind us during the years, as rough play and fighting lessons inevitably turned into something else, I laughed silently. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

Emmett wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me against him, rubbing his face in to my hair and kissing me. “His loss.”

I watched Edward smile at Bella, as he tried to lighten the mood. “Besides, it’s all unnecessary,” he said to her soothingly. “The Volturi will stop. They will be made to understand.”

“But if they don’t! I _need_ to learn this,” Bella insisted.

“Find another teacher.” Edward was firm.

“This is where we come in!” Emmett crowed, seizing my hand and dragging me off the porch and towards the two vampires facing each other on the lawn. “Bella, forget about Edward…he doesn’t know shit. He’s spent a hundred years listening to people’s thoughts and cheating his way to success. What you need is someone to show you how it’s _really_ done.”

Edward laughed good-humouredly. “Sure, Emmett, that’s just what she needs.” Half embarrassed, he flicked a glance my way. “I would appreciate it if you’d take over though Rosalie, you and Emmett know as much as I do and I would…rather not teach these particular lessons.” Edward brushed his lips across Bella’s cheek and said to her, “Emmett and Rosalie can teach you the basics. Please…I’ll go and check on Renesmee.”

Bella scowled, but then shrugged in resignation. “Okay Edward. I’ll start with Emmett and Rosalie, but I’m not giving up on you!”

Edward merely smiled, and then waved and strode rapidly back towards the house.

With a sigh, Bella looked up at Emmett doubtfully. “You’re going to teach me?” Beside him she looked tiny.

“Yes.” Emmett flexed his muscles and grinned. “Edward’s an idiot to not want to teach you- this stuff is practically foreplay, hey baby?”

He slung an arm over my shoulder and in one twisting move I was out from his grip and had thrown him onto his back in the dirt with an earth-shattering thump. “Not when you’re fighting someone else besides me!” I told him tartly, as I knelt on his chest and looked up at Bella with a grin. “As you see, it’s not about size. It’s about….”

“Strength,” Emmett grunted, managing to get out from under me and back up on his feet with me caught in his iron embrace.

I twisted free of his grip and for a moment the two of us fought. “Skill!” I panted a second later from Emmett’s back, my legs pinning one of his arms while I held his skull wrenched to the side, my teeth pressed against the exposed curve of his neck. I bit him, just hard enough that he would feel the sting of it, and then jumped down and smiled at Bella. She was looking a little taken aback, and I couldn’t help laughing.

“Bella! Don’t look so shocked! Edward’s being ridiculously precious with you- half the fun in being almost indestructible is being able to play rough, and it’s not as though either of you are going to kill each other in training!”

Emmett grinned at her evilly. “Short of fire most things can be put back together, you know. Just ask Jas- I ripped his arm off once. I’ve got _lots_ to teach you, Bella.”

Bella winced, and I gave Emmett a playful slap that echoed around the yard with the force of it. “Don’t listen to him,” I said dismissively. “I mean he’s right, unless you start lighting fires any damage you do can pretty much be repaired, but that’s not what we’re about here. As a newborn you have the strength to take on nearly anyone, you know that, but it’s the skills and techniques of fighting that you need to learn.”

Bella nodded determinedly. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to tell Edward. If it comes to a fight we’re going to need every tiny advantage we can scrape together.”

“That’s right,” Emmett said briskly. “Despite what Edward thinks, you can be useful Bella. You’re as strong as any newborn, and you’re a hell of a lot more controlled on top of it. You’ve got two extra things going for you as well- you’ve got your shield trick to keep out talents; and then you’re a newborn and they all know it, so they won’t be expecting you.”

“That’s rule number one in vampire fighting,” I told her seriously. “ _Don’t underestimate anyone, ever_. Don’t ever forget that you can’t look at someone and know their story. You don’t know how old, how powerful, how skilled any particular vampire might be, so until it’s proved otherwise treat _everyone_ as though they’re a dangerous threat.”

A smile broke across Bella’s face as she laughed. “I’d say _you’re_ pretty good evidence of that, Rosalie! You look like a beauty queen but you fight like a ninja!”

I laughed, and Emmett grinned and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. “She learned from the master,” he told Bella cockily, and then he laughed as I threw him over my shoulder and sent him crashing to the ground again.

As he bounced to his feet, Emmett’s eyes were sparkling. “Aww, come on baby doll, you know I taught you everything you know!”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s horribly conceited Bella, but he does know what he’s doing. You’ve seen how he and Jasper behave with all that endless wrestling and war games and it does serve a purpose when it comes to fighting skills I suppose. Since Jasper’s not here, you’ll just have to make do with Emmett.”

Emmett snapped his teeth at me arrogantly. “Mocking my expertise? Oh, you’ll pay…” He winked and turned to Bella, adding cheerfully, “Okay Bella, let’s get down to it. Fighting vampires is pretty straightforward. Just remember the weak spots.” He drew me over towards me and then demonstrated on my unresisting body exactly where Bella should aim her strength.

 “Got it?” he asked her. “You want to get the head off ideally, but limbs work too. You can’t break bones so don’t even waste time trying that, you have to focus your power onto the joints to do any damage. I kind of doubt you were doing a lot of cage fighting as a human, but anything like scratching or hair pulling is a complete waste of time on a vampire. They won’t even feel it.” Emmett paused and then chuckled briefly. “Unless it’s Rose…you damage a hair on her head and you’ll know about it!”

I elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Shut up!” I looked at Bella. “The other thing to remember is that limbs can be reattached- if you rip anyone’s off toss them away so they can’t just pick them up.”

Bella was looking a little sick, but we had no time for her personal squeamishness or feelings against violence so I went on, trying to sound as matter of fact as possible. “While you’re training it’s just as important to learn about yourself as a fighter as it is to learn the techniques and skills. Figure out your strengths and weaknesses so that you can use your strengths and avoid your weaknesses being used against you.” I bit my lip and thought. “See, I’m not as strong as Emmett or Edward or Jasper. I know that, so I’ve learned to become a hell of a lot sneakier! Because I can’t rely on brute strength I have to be focussed and aware enough to exploit any moment of inattention and weakness. Emmett, on the other hand, has strength on his side so if he gets his hands on you you’re a goner. But he can be too reckless, and carelessness may well get you killed,” I finished flatly, not looking at Emmett.

Bella nodded in concentration, and I gave her a twisted smile. “Most of this will come to you fairly naturally in a battle situation, and of course it’s often surprising what you can do when it comes down to it. But giving it at least a little thought beforehand can only help you.”

Emmett cleared his throat. “Your inexperience will be your biggest weakness Bella, so to counteract that you want to stay away from the ancient warriors if you can. Avoid close contact fighting where you can’t use your strength to best advantage and where someone with a bit of know-how can get you in their grip and end you. With your newborn strength and speed your best bet is just to hit and run.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got all that,” Bella said thoughtfully.

“Good,” Emmett smiled devilishly. “Now let’s see what you’ve got, baby sister.”

Bella had strength and determination and was a quick learner, although Emmett’s lesson was hard and he showed no mercy.  Clearly the wounds of his humiliation at Bella’s hand in the arm wrestling still rankled, and he couldn’t resist this opportunity to make her pay! Again and again he had her on the ground or caught up in his deadly grip seemingly effortlessly. If she’d been able to bruise Bella would have been one great big mass of throbbing flesh by the time the lesson – or Emmett’s revenge- came to a halt.

Bella made a wry face at Emmett as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. “Thanks Emmett. I’m sure the Volturi won’t be any worse than that was!”

Emmett laughed comfortably. “Probably not, apart from the little fact that they want you dead and I’m just messing with you.” He winked at her. “Seriously though Bella, you’re doing good.”

“You are,” I confirmed. “We’ll do some more tomorrow. Ness- Renesmee is probably wondering where you are now.”

Bella eyes brightened at the thought of her daughter and she hurried off to find her. I had been sitting on the grass watching the two of them, and I lay back and stared up into the darkening sky, watching the stars twinkle into view one by one as the night closed in. Emmett stretched out on his side next to me, his head propped up on his hand as he watched me with soft eyes.

“What?” I asked him eventually. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Because you’re pretty and I like to look at you,” he answered simply.

I couldn’t help laughing as I rolled towards him and breathed in his scent and then, in a move Emmett wasn’t expecting and had no time to react to, I pounced. A second later I had him pinned on his belly underneath me, both my hands gripping his skull and yanking it backwards as I held the nape of his neck down with my knee. “I could rip your head off right now if I wanted to.”

“Well please don’t!” Even with his head bent back at such an awkward angle, Emmett laughed. “Baby doll, you don’t need to convince me that you’re a badass assassin- you know there’s no one else I’d rather have fighting at my back than you.”

I relaxed my grip on his head and waited, and the next moment Emmett flipped me over and pressed his mouth to the hollow of my throat. “And now, my ninja warrior girl…there’s a few other moves I want to show you. So how about we go somewhere a little more private, hmmm?”


	40. More Than a Game

Bella’s fight training continued the following day, and every day after that. I dug deep into the recesses of my memory for everything Jasper had ever taught me about fighting vampires and shared that knowledge with Bella, the two of us taking in turns to play the offensive and defensive roles. I wished fiercely that Jasper would return to take over though. Our previous lessons had focussed on fighting newborns and the Volturi soldiers would be almost the exact opposite of those inexperienced opponents. I had learned a lot from Jasper in the past, but I was bleakly aware of how sketchy that knowledge was and how little it would probably help in the face of what was coming.

Bella’s lessons became more of a group effort in time as various people wandered out to watch the lessons on the lawn, and then offered their own tips and strategies. Tanya had centuries of experience behind her and was a clear and patient teacher. Eleazar, with his prior involvement with the Volturi guard, became an invaluable resource about the style of fighting we might expect if it came to battle and Bella wasn’t the only one to pay attention to what he had to say.

As well as learning the fundamentals of fighting, Bella was also working hard at being able to project her shield. Much more difficult, her progress was slow and frustrating to her, although everyone else thought she was doing amazingly.

Once again many of our guests took to watching the lessons with interest, although this time I wasn’t one of them. Once the initial amusement at seeing Edward repeatedly zapped by Kate’s electric shock trick as Bella tried to shield him had worn off, I had no desire to watch. The ugly truth was that jealousy, my constant failing, had come home to roost, bringing with it deep feelings of inadequacy. Bella, whose vampire transition had come so smoothly and easily to her, who had her husband and daughter and father and fairy tale cottage, who was taking centre stage in this latest phase of our lives…oh, she was my friend now and I’d learned to love her as a sister in those few brief weeks her life hung in the balance, but she sometimes raised in me the sharp, stabbing pain of grief for all my lost dreams.

Instead I spent time with Renesmee while her mother was busy elsewhere. She may have been the very embodiment of everything I would never have for my own, but from the first moment I had held her I had loved the tiny girl. As odd and unexpected as it may have been I ended up feeling comforted by the very person whose existence had caused me such pain.

 Renesmee was flourishing, despite the ever present threat hanging over us. Her growth rate was definitely slowing, but her curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds and she was a delight to be near. She was enthralled with our guests, several of them becoming her particular friends as she followed them around and communicated through a mix of talk and touch. But despite the endless novelty of all these strange, red-eyed vampires Renesmee still adored her family, an emotion we all more than returned.

“Will you play the piano with me, Rosalie?” Ness asked one morning, when Bella and Edward were outside practising her shield projection.

I closed the laptop on my latest futile attempt to break into the computer system at Volterra. I was sure it could be done, but so far I had been unable to navigate the complex web of defences they had set up. Not for the first time I wished I’d attempted this earlier, when Jasper was there to help, but it had never seemed worthwhile before. “Sure,” I said to Ness.

We sat at the piano bench together, and Renesmee leafed listlessly through the music book she found there. Edward had been teaching her to play and she had clearly inherited his flair it, her skill so far limited mostly by the tiny size of her hands. We had looked into having a custom made miniature piano made for her, but at her current rate of growth she’d be big enough to play a regular sized piano before it would be finished. We had an electric keyboard that was more her size, but she much preferred the sound of Edward’s grand piano.

“You do the feet,” she directed me, and obediently I placed my feet on the pedals and followed along with her, smiling a little as she frowned in fierce concentration. I enjoyed playing with Ness, although I had no doubt she would outstrip me before too long. Like Edward, Ness had an intuitive feel for music and composition, and already played with an unconscious ease that made every piece her own.

“Where’s Jacob?” I asked her when we finished. It was very rare to see her without the wolf somewhere nearby; even with all the menacing, wild new vampires that now inhabited our home, Jacob refused to leave.

Ness leaned against me, touching my cheek and showing me a picture of Jacob meeting with Sam.

There had been some tension with the Quileutes when they discovered that our houseguests most definitely did not share our ‘vegetarian’ diet. Considering themselves custodians of human safety it sickened them to knowingly allow so many vampire free rein to kill so close to their territory. Edward tried to compromise by instructing our friends to stay well clear of the Quileute’s land and lending out his cars to enable those who needed to hunt to travel far from the local area, and with Jacob’s imprint on Renesmee the pack were powerless to act against our family anyway, but that didn’t mean the situation sat easily with Sam.

While they said nothing, Carlisle and Esme hated the situation too. Carlisle had never pushed his convictions and lifestyle on his friends, but his own commitment to preserving human life made the idea of standing back and facilitating their slaughter abhorrent to him. The rest of the family didn’t share Carlisle’s innate and immutable sense of compassion, but we had all made the same commitment to refrain from killing and tried so hard to maintain that difficult choice that it was very unsettling to have so many human blood drinkers in our midst.

 _Is this all my fault?_ Nessie’s fingers on my cheek trembled lightly as the words drifted into my mind. _Are we all going to die because of me?_

“Oh, baby no!” I looked down at the small, serious face beside me with a startled exclamation. “This isn’t your fault at all!’

Ness dropped her eyes and didn’t look at me. _But the Volturi are coming because of me, and all the friends came here because of me. And now Momma is learning to fight and it’s more than a game like when Emmett pretends to fight with me and lets me win…_

“Ness,” I dropped into a crouch at the side of the piano bench so I could look into her deep brown eyes. “Please listen to me. This isn’t your fault, this isn’t really because of anything we did at all.”   

I could tell by the set of her baby mouth and the depth of sombre intelligence in her brown eyes that she didn’t believe me. “Why then?”

“Because not everybody in the world is good,” I said softly. “Sometimes people value things above friendship and family and empathy, and they’ll lie and steal and hurt others if it gets them what they want.”

Renesmee looked at me with wide, uncomprehending eyes. She had never met anyone who wasn’t a friend; from the moment she was born she had been surrounded by her family and the pack, love lavished on her from every side. Ness didn’t know about power, about greed and cruelty and callousness and how depravity flowed through the world. I did not want to shatter her blissful bubble of innocence, but none of us had the luxury of wilful blindness any longer. But trying to explain greed and corruption to a child who had never encountered anything but loving empathy and kindness was challenging task.

For perhaps the first time I realised how heartbreakingly limited Renesmee’s life experience was, and would likely remain. Born into wealth, with people who would satisfy her every whim if they could, her life was bound by more secrecy and rules than even our vampire lives. She knew nothing beyond the family, and because of her outrageous rate of growth and change she could never be part of the human world. She would never have the freedom to explore the world alone, to discover who she was and how she belonged in it. And if she couldn’t do that, how could she ever truly understand why we valued human life the way we did, why we fought and struggled to maintain our unnatural diet and why we found it worthwhile?

This perfectly beautiful, unique little girl, who had seemed the answer to prayers and whose existence had provided the happy-ever-after for Bella and Edward and even Jacob…what would it mean for her? Her birth had been a miracle, but it came with a sting in the tail and I thought with a sharp stab of unease that it stood to hurt no one as much as it might hurt Renesmee herself.

 _Daddy thinks Aro wants Alice to go and join him in Volterra? Is that why she and Jasper went away?_ Nessie’s face was sad. _I miss them so much._

“I do too,” I said softly. “But I’m sure they wouldn’t have left us if there was any other way. You know,” I went on confidingly, “Emmett thinks they have a plan that might help us. He thinks we’ll hear from them before the Volturi come.”

Nessie’s eyes widened even further and a grin crept over her face. _I hope he’s right._ She thought for a moment and then looked at me intently. _Do you think we’re all going to die?_

 _Yes._ I crushed the thought ruthlessly, and smiled as I picked up the tiny girl and hugged her tight. “No, I don’t. _No one_ is going to let anything happen to you,” I said stoutly. “Look at all the friends who have come to help us; the Volturi will have to stop and listen to what we’ve got to say and they’ll see that we haven’t done anything wrong. I think Emmett’s right as well- Alice and Jasper have been part of the family for fifty years and they would never leave us when we needed them, not unless they had a really, really good reason. And all this fighting stuff they’re doing out there?” I forced myself to give a bright, carefree laugh and jumped to my feet, glad when Renesmee giggled with me. “That’s just playing really. It’s a good thing for your momma to know, but it’s not going to come to a war. Not now. Hey…why don’t I teach you?”

Renesmee laughed and clapped her hands. “Yes!”

The things I would do for that baby! So much of my life had been spent focused on myself, on the way I looked and acted as I aimed only at achieving perfection. Now there was Renesmee though, and I felt myself relax and let go as I played with her in a way I had only ever done with Emmett.

“Okay Ness.” I pushed the sofa back against the wall and faced the giggling child across the living room rug. “I’m going to teach you how to throw me. If you do it the right way it doesn’t matter that I’m that much taller than you…now come this way.”

Renesmee was an even quicker learner than Bella. She had strength that outstripped that of an adult man, and she was fearless. While she was too short to really be effective at self-defence I taught her how to use my height and weight against me to throw me off balance and she became almost embarrassingly adept at it. What’s more she thought it was hilarious as she repeatedly slammed me down onto my back on the rug, hard enough to make the ornaments rattle on the shelves.

“I’m as strong as Emmett!” she panted, standing over me gleefully as I lay still, grateful for a moment of respite. “I can’t wait to do this to Jacob when he comes back!”

I snorted. “Take him down hard Ness…do it for me, I owe him one.”

I heard a chuckle and craned my neck to see Edward in the doorway, eyeing the two of us with amusement. “Be a little bit careful with Jacob, Renesmee. Remember that he breaks, unlike Rosalie.”

I rose to my feet and pushed my hair back as Ness hopped up and down with excitement. “Watch me Daddy! Rosalie is teaching me to fight like she taught Momma.”

Edward raised his eyebrows at me.

“I’m paying for it!” I said with a laugh that turned into a grimace as I let Renesmee take hold of me and hurl me onto the floor with enthusiasm. “She’s clearly from the same ‘no mercy’ school of thought as Emmett.”

“I’m going to go and show Momma,” Renesmee announced, darting from the room.

I rose to my feet and smoothed my hair, then went and stood beside Edward at the window. Outside we could see Renesmee directing Eleazar on what to do so she could use him to demonstrate her newfound skills. Edward chuckled again as the diminutive Ness managed to throw the former Volturi warrior down onto the lawn.

“She’s afraid,” I said after a pause.

“I wish she didn’t have to be.” Edward’s face was pained. “But we can’t lie to her.”

“No, we can’t.” I didn’t look at him as I asked curiously, “Are you afraid?”

“Very much so!” Edward said lightly. “Not of dying myself, but of seeing…others being hurt. I’m terrified of losing what I’ve only just found.”

I thought of Emmett and felt the black crawl of dread through my soul at the thought of seeing him destroyed. _Not Emmett- not my strong, loving, steadfast man._  I could say nothing. I was shocked a moment later to feel Edward’s cool, strong hand take mine.

“You don’t have to stay Rosalie,” he said quietly. “I know how you feel about the Volturi, and I would understand completely if you and Emmett left. There would be no acrimony if the two of you chose to go away.”

“Emmett would never run away from a fight,” I said flatly. “And I can’t desert the family.” _Not because I’m brave and heroic…but because I love you all so fiercely and need this family so much, and I’m too damn stubborn to give up anything I want without fighting for it!_

Hearing all my unspoken thoughts, Edward squeezed my hand. “I should have known,” he said lightly. A moment later he gave a soft laugh and said reminiscently, “I have given you a hard time over the years, haven’t I?”

I laughed too. “Most of it probably wasn’t undeserved! I would have said I gave as good as I got.”

“Yes, well…perhaps we would have to agree we were about as bad as each other,” Edward said ruefully. “Oh Rosalie, I was so angry when I came home that night and learned that Carlisle had changed you! The last thing I thought I needed in my life was the beautiful, vapid, arrogant Rosalie Hale! And then Esme thought we’d fall in love and live happily ever after…” He shook his head. “I wasn’t as patient as I could have been when you woke. I baited you on purpose sometimes and I judged you too harshly, and…well, I was wrong. You are far more than the empty-headed socialite I believed you were when Carlisle brought you home, and I will be honoured and grateful to have you standing behind me when we face the Volturi.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have Edward’s way with words, especially not when my emotions had been so deeply touched as they had been by his words. But I squeezed his hand, and for a moment we stood together and watched our friends and family through the window and neither of us felt afraid.


	41. An Unwilling Revolutionary

“You seem very intent there Rosalie, what are you working on?”

Esme sat lightly down on the sofa beside me, and I gave her a weary smile. “I’m still trying to crack the Volturi’s defences and hack their computer system but I’ve never seen anything like it. It figures that they’d have the best.”

Esme smiled sympathetically. “I’m afraid it’s not something I can help you with. “

I sighed and slammed the laptop shut. “That’s okay. I don’t even know if it’s worth bothering about anyway. Who knows if I’ll find anything useful?” I glanced over at Emmett, who was sitting on the floor with Randall, both of them leaning against the glass wall with guitars in their arms, reminiscing about the music of the 60s. “Maybe I should break out my beads and braids and join the Woodstock reunion over there,” I muttered, a little sourly.

Esme laughed. “I’ve been enjoying their singing,” she confessed.

I rolled my eyes, but my mouth twitched up in a smile. As the shadow of our approaching doom drew ever closer, it was Emmett’s blithe approach to daily life that was keeping me sane. He was taking the Volturi threat very seriously, speaking often and intently with Edward and Carlisle, and there were moments when I caught him with his eyes full of a wild rage and grief at the unfairness of what we were facing…but he refused to surrender the things in life that gave him joy before he had to.

“Oh, we’ll all be dead for a long time,” he had told me carelessly that morning, as he had searched through the recesses of the attic for a spare guitar. “Sure, they’re coming for us…but they’re not here yet, and I’ll be damned if I’ll waste what could be my last days moping around.” He kissed me exuberantly, ignoring the glowering presence of Carlisle’s friend Alistair who had not been pleased at our intrusion into the attic he had taken over as his own lair. “Come on baby doll, let’s go play some music and remember the summer of love.”

Putting the laptop aside, I drifted closer to Emmett and Randall, listening to their quiet music while I watched Bella practising her shield projection out in the back yard. For once Renesmee was out there too, and I frowned as I watched Kate threaten her and saw the rage sweeping across Bella’s face. I had heard Kate talking about using Ness that way; hoping that triggering Bella’s instinctive drive to protect her daughter would give her the push she needed to extend her shield. I knew she meant no harm by it but I still didn’t like it. I turned away from the window.

I looked down at Emmett as he played the song ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’, a small smile on his lips at the aptness of the title. He played the Joe Cocker cover version that he and I had heard live at Woodstock in 1969 as we lay twined together in the intimate dimness of a heavy canvas tent. My breath caught in my throat as I remembered the beauty of that afternoon, and I felt the pulsing heat of desire as I looked at Emmett. The number of vampires in the house, our reluctance to go far from home even to hunt had made being together awkward… _I want you Emmett._

As though he’d heard me Emmett lifted his eyes, and they were dark when they met mine. I took an involuntarily step towards him and god knows what would have happened next had my attention not been caught by a new sound and scent from the front porch. _New vampires._

I darted over to the porch behind Carlisle. For a moment, when I first caught sight of the stark white, weirdly powdery skin that belonged to the truly ancient, I thought they were from the Volturi and my head whirled with the terror of it. But no…Carlisle was greeting them, and although I could tell he was surprised and not altogether pleased to see our new guests, he wasn’t afraid.

“Did Alice send you?” he asked.

The two vampires were both short, one with dark hair and the other a pale, ashy blonde, and it was the dark haired one who spoke first, in a voice that was low and whispery with age. “No one sent us,” he said.

“Then what brings you here now?” Carlisle asked warily.

“Word travels,” the blonde man answered. “We heard hints that the Volturi were moving against you. There were whispers that you would not stand alone. Obviously the whispers were true. This is an impressive gathering.”

I glanced behind me. Nearly everyone had crowded into the living room and was staring in fascination at the new arrivals. Judging by the expressions on their faces, I didn’t think many of them knew the ancient new arrivals. The vampire had spoken the truth though- it was an impressive gathering when I saw them all together.

“We are not challenging the Volturi. There has been a misunderstanding, that is all. A very serious misunderstanding, to be sure, but one we’re hoping to clear up,” Carlisle said quickly. “What you see are witnesses. We just need the Volturi to listen. We didn’t…”

“We don’t care what they say you did,” the dark vampire interrupted, sounding bored. “And we don’t care if you broke the law.”

“No matter how egregiously,” the pale one added.

“We’ve been waiting a millennium and a half for the Italian scum to be challenged,” the dark vampire continued vehemently. “If there is any chance they will fall, we will be here to see it!”

“Or even to help defeat them,” the blonde vampire finished.

I wondered who they were, and how long they must have been together to speak so easily in tandem, their voices almost identical and able to finish each other’s thoughts as they did.

“Bella?” Edward called out in a hard voice. “Bring Renesmee here, please. Maybe we should test our Romanian visitors’ claims.”

 _The Romanians._ I kept my face impassive, even as my thoughts raced. The Romanian coven pre-dated the Volturi. They had ruled the vampire world until they Volturi overthrew them around 500AD, and one and a half thousand years later these two vampires, Stefan and Vladimir, were all that remained. They had lost wives, power, land, treasure, wealth and coven to the Volturi and now they were here, because they thought _we_ were going to give them an avenue to see their ancient enemies fall. I suppressed my shudder.

Bella entered the room with light footsteps, Renesmee held gently in her arms. Bella’s face was tense, but Ness eyed the newcomers with fascination.

“Well, well, Carlisle,” Stefan said with a grin. “You _have_ been naughty, haven’t you?”

“She’s not what you think, Stefan,” Carlisle said, his voice strained.

“And we don’t care either way,” Vladimir said airily. “As we said before.”

“Then you’re welcome to observe, Vladimir, but it is definitely not our plan to challenge the Volturi, as _we_ said before,” Carlisle responded strongly.

“Then we’ll just cross our fingers,” Stefan said, before Vladimir took over and finished his thought.

“And hope we get lucky.”

They entered the house, and I was not the only one who silently stepped away from them. Everyone seemed wary of these ancient ones whose motives here were so foreign to ours.

Ness was the only one who moved towards the Romanians instead of away from them. The little girl slid down from Bella’s arms and stepped daintily towards the newcomers. I stiffened, and I heard a low whine as Jacob, who had phased to his wolf form when he felt the increased tension in the air, pushed his way in from the porch to stand by Ness, who buried one of her hands in his thick fur.

For a moment the room was silent apart from Jacob’s low breathing. All our guests were aware of the Quileutes and our involvement with them. They had seen glimpses of the wolves in the forest, they were accustomed to the sight and smell of human Jacob in the house and yard, but this was the first time they had been confronted with the reality of a shape shifter and Jacob’s heat and smell and the sound of his heartbeat seemed to fill the room.

Stefan broke the silence, as his thin lips stretched into a tight smile. “Wolves too, Carlisle? First immortal children, and now animals. My, my…is there anything you will stop at?”

“That’s my Jacob,” Renesmee’s voice was clear and high and betrayed no hint of fear. “He’s a Quileute shape shifter. And I’m not an immortal child. If you let me touch you, I can show you.”

“She’s gifted,” Edward said flatly. “She can share her thoughts through touch.”

Stefan and Vladimir peered down at her with brilliant crimson eyes. “We would rather not, child,” Vladimir said to her, not unkindly. “It does not bother us what you are.”

Renesmee was examining the Romanians with the same interest they had looked at her with. “What are _you_ though?” she asked politely, clearly not bothered by their rebuff. “You have red eyes like our other friends, but your skin is so different. Why is it like that?”

I tensed, sure the Romanians would be offended. But they seemed only amused and a little rueful, and Vladimir answered her easily enough. “We sat still for a very long time, child. Contemplating our own divinity. It was a sign of our power that everything came to us. Prey, diplomats, those seeking our favour. We sat on our thrones and thought ourselves gods. We didn’t notice for a long time that we were changing- almost petrifying. I suppose the Volturi did us one favour when they burned out castles. Stefan and I, at least, did not continue to petrify. Now the Volturi’s eyes are filmed with dusty scum, but ours a bright. I imagine that will give us an advantage when we gouge theirs from their sockets.”

I grimaced at the bloodthirsty image, but Ness merely nodded thoughtfully and returned to her mother as Bella called for her. Jacob vanished outside, and one by one the gathering in the living room dispersed.

Emmett’s guitar lay abandoned on the floor by the window so I picked it up and went in search of him, following the sound of his voice until I located him in Carlisle’s study. I was shocked as I gently pushed the door open to see Carlisle slumped at his desk with his face in his hands. Every line of his body spoke of weary defeat, and I knew I had never seen him as close to beaten as he was then. Esme knelt at his side with her hands on his thigh and her face creased in concern as she looked at him. On the other side of the desk stood Emmett, and as he held his arms out to me I went mutely into his embrace.

“I’m sorry,” Carlisle said at last, laying his hands gently on the desk and sitting upright. “Forgive me for giving in to my despair.”

“There is nothing to forgive!” Esme said fiercely. “Carlisle, you have held the family together through…everything! Everyone has their moments of weakness.”

He smiled at her tenderly and she kissed him. “Thank you, my darling,” he murmured, before he looked across at me and Emmett. “It was the Romanians today,” he said slowly. “They have confirmed what I feared. The rumours are flowing and we are being hailed as revolutionaries. But I wanted no war with the Volturi!” His face twisted in sudden anguish. “I asked our friends here to _witness,_ not do battle! I have made no aggressive moves against the Volturi, only tried to defend what I hold dear, and yet here come the Romanians who would make us into the leaders of a rebellion I have no desire to fight.”

“None of us want to overthrow the Volturi. That’s not what this fight is about. Everyone who knows you understands that,” Emmett’s arms tightened around me, and I gripped his forearm with one hand while my other hand caught in my hair, pulling at a long lock and twining it round my fingers as I stared at Carlisle. I had never seen him so distraught as he looked then.

“I have always believed that the Volturi fill a necessary role in vampire life,” Carlisle said quietly. “I have not liked all of their…methods, I have thought that they could show more compassion and understanding and perhaps guide rather than enforce rule from above as they do, but I have believed that their intentions were good. Aro…” Carlisle’s voice cracked. “I am realising that there is corruption, that they have lost themselves in their lust for power and their greed, but…”

He didn’t finish, and looking at him as Esme embraced him and he rested his face against her breast I thought I understood, at least a little. I had read Carlisle’s journals, all of them, and I knew about his time in Volterra as a young vampire and the intense friendship and mentor relationship he and Aro had shared. Now Carlisle writhed under the knowledge that not only were we all sentenced to die, it was his old friend who had signed the execution order.

“Are the Romanians right?” he whispered. “Have we merely gathered an army and precipitated a war?”

 


	42. Declarations

Christmas. It had always been Alice who had decorated for the holidays, Alice who had played carols on the stereo and bullied everyone else into seasonal festivities. With her gone, with the threat of the Volturi hanging over our heads, no one else really had the heart to drag the decorations out of the attic or go shopping for gifts.

Bella made a half-hearted effort for Renesmee’s sake, and on Christmas day she and Edward took Ness over to Charlie’s house for dinner, with Jacob tagging along. Emmett and I went hunting, ranging further away from home than we had in weeks, enjoying the silent, frigid winter world and knowing that it might be the last time we were able to do so.

Early in the evening I curled into Emmett on the sofa, my laptop on my knees. He played with my hair, stroking it smooth and then curling it around his fingers, the remote control held possessively in his other hand. Several of our nomad friends were becoming obsessed with the television they rarely got to watch and the usually easy going Emmett was getting fed up with constantly having to share the giant plasma screen.

“That’s mine!” he had snarled earlier, snatching the remote out of Randall’s hands and throwing himself down on the couch. “I’m going to watch sports and you can either put up with it or get stuffed.”

I had rolled my eyes but refrained from pointing out that he was behaving like a toddler, sitting down beside him and fitting myself comfortably against his bulk. Emmett’s hands had gone to my hair, occasionally stroking the curve of my neck or the line of my shoulder, and against me I had felt him relax.

I could smell the weather and I glanced out the window, seeing small flurries of snow swirling in the sky. The flakes were not sticking, they melted before they hit the ground, but even so… “It won’t be long now,” I said quietly.

“No,” Emmett agreed quietly. “We might have another week, if we’re lucky.” He flicked his eyes towards the laptop. “You heard anything else from the Major?”

I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t say anything else. I had hoped that maybe today, for Christmas, we would hear from our absent family. Just a short message, just something to let us know that they were still thinking of us, that they loved us and missed us the way I did them. Maybe something to tell us when they’d be back… _if_ they’d be back. I was trying to keep faith, but it was not something that came easily to me. I signed, and for a moment Emmett’s arm tightened around me.

“Carlisle!” Loud and angry, Amun’s voice rang through the house. I twisted to look around, seeing the thunderous fury in his face as he stormed down the stairs in search of Carlisle.

“Amun?” Carlisle had been playing chess with Esme, but rose to his feet and spoke calmly. “Can I help you with something?”

“You didn’t share with us that your misanthropic English friend has decided to leave!” Amun spoke stridently, and suddenly the room was crowded, ringed in vampires standing silently to watch the confrontation between Amun and Carlisle that was happening in the centre of the room. “You didn’t share that he has decided that the danger is too great to stay and be a witness to your folly!”

Carlisle sighed. “I was not deliberately keeping it from anyone. I was not even sure myself that he had gone for good- he didn’t speak to me, and I had hoped he was only away hunting.”

“Pah!” Amun spat. “You thought that if we all knew he was leaving we may start believing as he does, that battle is inevitable, and we will leave too and you will lose!”

“Amun, please,” Benjamin stepped into the circle, holding his hands up in an attempt to pacify the angry coven leader. “Carlisle has never been less than honest with us. We were asked here to witness, that is all…but I for one will be willing to stand and fight if it comes to that in order to defend the innocence of those accused.” He smiled guilelessly at Carlisle.

Emmett had muted the sound on the television and was watching intently, although his hand continued his endless, rhythmic caressing of my hair. Neither of us had known that Alistair had left, although we had been aware of his growing discontent and agitation. I frowned, noting out of the corner of my eye that Edward and Bella had returned, Ness holding on to Bella’s shirt and watching with a serious face.

“Amun, if you want to go, no one is forcing you to stay,” Carlisle said calmly.

“You’re stealing half my coven, Carlisle!” Amun shouted furiously, pointing at Benjamin. “Is that why you called me here? To _steal_ from me?”

Benjamin shook his head. “Yes, Carlisle picked a fight with the Volturi, endangered his whole family, just to lure me here to my death,” he said sarcastically. “Be reasonable Amun. I’m committed to do the right thing here- I’m not joining any other coven. You can do whatever you want of course, as Carlisle pointed out.”

“This won’t end well,” Amun growled. “Alistair was the only sane one here. We should all be running.”

“Think of you who’re calling sane,” Tia murmured in a quiet aside, and I bit back a desire to laugh.

“We’re all going to be slaughtered!” Amun’s words rang through the room, and all amusement left me. To have our greatest fear put into words and shouted aloud was chilling.

“It’s not going to come to a fight.” Carlisle’s voice was much quieter than Amun’s, but every syllable rang with sincerity and faith.

“You say!”

“If it does, you can always switch sides Amun. I’m sure the Volturi will appreciate your help.”

Amun sneered. “Perhaps that _is_ the answer.”

I wanted to rip off his traitorous head. To even consider that kind of betrayal! Leaving was one thing, but to stand with us only to turn on us at the last minute would be despicable. Emmett felt the rising tension in my body and I felt the soothing touch of his fingers, rubbing my neck under my hair.

“I wouldn’t hold that against you,” Carlisle said softly. “We have been friends for a long time, but I would never ask you to die for me.”

 _Sometimes though Carlisle, there_ are _things worth dying for._

“But you’re taking my Benjamin down with you.” Carlisle reached out to touch his friend, but Amun shook him off. “I’ll stay Carlisle, but it might be to your detriment. I _will_ join them if that’s the road to survival. You’re all fools to think that you can defy the Volturi.” He looked at Renesmee and gave an exasperated sigh. “I will witness that the child has grown. That’s nothing but the truth. Anyone would see that.”

“That’s all we’ve ever asked,” Carlisle said soberly.

“But not all that you are getting, it seems.” Amun scowled, and turned on Benjamin. “I gave you life. You’re wasting it.”

Benjamin’s face was like the carved statues of his pharaoh ancestors. “It’s a pity you couldn’t replace my will with your own in the process; perhaps then you would have been satisfied with me,” he said coldly, turning away as Amun and Kebi swept from the room.

“Where did Alistair go?” Bella whispered to Edward.

“No one can be positive; he didn’t leave a note. From his mutters it’s been clear that he thinks a fight is inevitable. Despite his demeanour, he actually does care too much for Carlisle to stand with the Volturi. I suppose he decided the danger was too much.”

“From the sound of his mumblings, it was a bit more than that,” Eleazar spoke up. “We haven’t spoken much of the Volturi agenda, but Alistair worried that no matter how decisively we can prove your innocence, the Volturi will not listen. He thinks they will find an excuse to achieve their goals here.”

As a concerned babble of talk broke over the room, Emmett’s hand tightened almost imperceptibly against the nape of my neck. I could feel his eyes on me, his gallant, careless enjoyment at the idea of a fight at war with his horror at the idea of watching me be hurt.

“I do so hope Alistair was right about this,” Stefan murmured to Vladimir. “no matter the outcome, word will spread. It’s time our world saw the Volturi for what they’ve become. They’ll never fall if everyone believes this nonsense about them protecting our way of life.”

“At least when we ruled we were honest about what we were.”

“We never put on white hats and called ourselves saints.”

“I’m thinking the time has come to fight,” Vladimir said. “How can you imagine we’ll ever find a better force to stand with? Another chance this good?”

“Nothing is impossible. Maybe someday-“

“We’ve been waiting for _fifteen hundred years,_ Stefan. And they’ve only got stronger with the years. If the Volturi win this conflict, they will leave with more power than they came with. With every conquest they add to their strengths. Think of what that newborn alone could give them and she is barely discovering her gifts. And the earth-mover,” Vladimir indicated Benjamin, who tensed. Everyone was paying attention to the Romanians now. “With their witch twins they have no need of the illusionist or the fire touch.”

“Nor is the mind reader exactly necessary,” Stefan continued. “But I see your point. Indeed, they will gain much if they win.”

_But not Alice. They won’t get Alice and her visions of the future. Did she know that this would happen? Is that why she left, to keep her gift away from Aro?_

“More than we can afford to have them gain, wouldn’t you agree?”

Stefan sighed. “I think I must agree. And that means…”

“That we must stand against them while there is still hope,” Vladimir finished.

“If we can just cripple them, even, expose them…”

“Then someday others will finish the job.”

“And our long vendetta will be repaid. At last.”

Their eyes locked and they smiled in grim satisfaction. “It seems the only way. So we fight.”

“We will fight too,” Tia said, her hand in Benjamin’s. “We believe the Volturi will overstep their authority. We have no wish to belong to them.”

Benjamin grinned. “Apparently I’m a hot commodity. It appears I have to win the right to be free.”

“This won’t be the first time I’ve fought to keep myself from a king’s rule,” Garrett said teasingly as he clapped Benjamin on the back. “Here’s to freedom from oppression!”

“We stand with Carlisle,” Tanya said, steel in her voice as she added, “And we fight with him.”

“We have not decided,” Peter said softly, speaking for himself and Charlotte; Mary and Randall added their uncertainty to theirs.

“The packs will fight with the Cullens,” Jacob said from the back of the room. “We’re not afraid of vampires,” he smirked.

“Children,” Peter muttered scathingly.

“Infants,” Randall corrected, looking without malice at Jacob’s taunting grin.

“Well, I’m in too,” Maggie, of the Irish coven, shrugged philosophically and stepped forward, away from Siobhan and Liam. “I know truth is on Carlisle’s side. I can’t ignore that.”

Siobhan, her cover leader, looked with concern at her friend, and then turned to Carlisle. “Carlisle,” she said, “I don’t want this to come to a fight.”

“Nor do I, Siobhan,” Carlisle said with feeling. “You know that’s the last thing I want. Perhaps you should concentrate on keeping it peaceful?” His eyes sparkled. He had always believed Siobhan had a powerful but subtle gift that led to her being able to influence events to go her way, although the Irish vampire herself had never believed him.

“You know that won’t help,” she said, a sudden smile illuminating her face.

“It couldn’t hurt!” Carlisle said lightly.

Siobhan scoffed. “Shall I visualise the outcome I desire?”

Carlisle was grinning now. “If you don’t mind.”

“Then there is no need for my coven to declare itself, is there?” she retorted. “Since there is no possibility of a fight!” She embraced Maggie, gently drawing her back to stand with her and Liam.

This light hearted exchange marked the end of the serious speeches for the evening and gradually the vampires in the room dispersed, some going to hunt, others moving into smaller groups to talk or separating to read or watch television or use the computers.

Emmett was silent as he tossed the remote to Randall, before he rose from the couch and tugged my hand until I closed my computer and followed him upstairs. Wordlessly he strode into the bathroom and filled the tub. “Come on baby,” he said, looking at me with puppy dog eyes, trying to hide his dimples. “Make me feel better.”

I laughed, low and huskily, and started slipping my clothes off to join him in the tub. “That’s easy done.”

“Well, that’s a good start,” Emmett murmured happily, watching me with a half-smile.

Emmett hadn’t turned any lights on, and the boiling water had made the dim air steamy as I sank into the tub beside him. “You didn’t like everyone declaring themselves?” I asked quietly. “At least we know where we stand…or know where _they_ will stand when it comes down to the line.”

“Mmmm,” Emmett’s hands were warm and slick under the water. “We’ve got some good friends.”

“I thought I was supposed to be making _you_ feel better,” I sighed a moment later, hearing a low rumble of laughter in Emmett’s chest.

“This _does_ make me feel better,” Emmett said hoarsely. “Touching you…watching what I can do to you…I love you, Rosa girl.”

“Do you think Alistair was right? That it doesn’t matter what we do…that the Volturi will find an excuse to do what they want here?”

“I don’t know.” Emmett’s hands, both gentle and sure, moved over me and I writhed under his touch biting my lip in an effort to keep quiet in the house full of preternatural ears. “And right now, pretty girl, I don’t care. As long as I have you standing with me…let them do their worst.”

I surrendered to him then, giving him all of me in the darkness and the heat and the heavy, warm air, while outside the temperature began falling.


	43. The Volturi Arrive

New Years Eve: the end of one year and beginning of the next. For vampires it was not a holiday we generally bothered ourselves with. After all, what was one more year in the endlessness of eternity? But as the sun set on the old year the darkness of the night descended, the flurries of snow thickened and began to fall steadily, blanketing the world in white. The last night of the year had become the final night for us.

Emmett and I hunted through the darkness. I couldn’t bear to be apart from him now so we stayed together, sharing the elk and the bobcat we brought down, the blood steaming in the frigid air as we fed. As we walked home through the snow Emmett held my hand and hummed softly, and I wished that the moment never had to end.

We could see the lights of the house through the trees when Emmett stopped, taking me in his arms and holding me close. My body was taut with the intensity of the fear and anxiety swirling through my mind, and in contrast Emmett felt almost abnormally relaxed.

“My angel girl…” he murmured, holding my face between his big hands so he could look at me. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I can’t help it,” I choked out. I had wanted to be calm, I had wanted to be as strong and brave and fierce as he loved me to be, but seeing our doom in the quickly heaping piles of snow it was all I could do not to start screaming. “I don’t know how you can be so _calm_!”

Emmett kissed me tenderly. “I keep thinking that I’ve been so _lucky_ , Rosa girl! How can I be afraid to die now, when I have had such an amazing life? My human life was good. Yeah, we were poor and it was kind of hard and hungry sometimes, but I had my family and we all loved each other. And then when I had to let them go…then there was _you._ ” He gave me a smile of such heartbreaking, vulnerable tenderness that I would have wept if I could. “ _I have loved you with an everlasting love,_ ” he whispered, adding in a teasing voice threaded through with pain. “It’s a quote from the Bible, you heathen! But I think it’s only God himself who is ever going to understand how much I have loved you.”

 _Emmett, my beloved._ This vampire man I had loved for over seventy years, loved for his kindness and laughter and joy… “I will love you always.”

“Yes.” Emmett looked down at me. “Remember what you promised me though. No stupid heroics and sacrifices, angel girl! If it comes to a fight tomorrow…” He hesitated. “Well, we’re both going to try our best to stay alive, okay? No matter what. If I die, Rosa girl, and if it’s just you…promise me you’ll live. Promise me!” His eyes turned dark and fierce, and he stared at me intently until I nodded, only then relaxing a little as he laid a hand on my heart. “I love you for what’s in here,” he told me, and his voice was a little less than steady. “The beautiful outside…that’s just wrapping. Your heart though, oh my Rosa girl your beautiful, fierce, amazing heart!” He kissed me, hard and urgently. “That’s why I love you, and if ever I’m not here you have to learn to show it to others, angel girl…” His voice broke, and we clung together and shivered in the snow, not from cold but from an intensity of emotion that we didn’t have words for.

It had been decided that we would face the Volturi in the clearing where we had fought Victoria’s newborns. Bella, Edward and Carlisle had been there for a few days before the snow began to fall, taking a tent for Renesmee and camping out. We wanted to keep the Volturi and any potential battle away from Forks if possible, and we had not been sure who Demetri would track to find us. It seemed safer if the likely choices, Carlisle and Edward, were in position ahead of time, in order to lead them there.

As the clock ticked over to New Years Day and the snow covered the ground in a glittering blanket of white we made our way to the field, knowing that the time had come. I walked with Emmett, hand in hand, feeling curiously light and empty. Nothing else could be done now…at least soon we would _know._

“Alice and Jasper didn’t come back,” I commented, almost absently.

Emmett shrugged, a faraway look in his eyes. “Maybe something held them up? Or maybe I was wrong and there never was any plan beyond saving themselves?” He gave me a crooked smile. “At least two of the family will survive.”

We gathered at the field, my family and the friends who had come to bear witness. They had come to save a life, to provide the proof that might allow Renesmee’s extraordinary existence to continue, but no one knew what they would witness now. A slaughter of the Cullens? The end of their own lives? We had never lied to them, they knew what they risked by standing by us, and apart from Alistair no one had run. Whether they would fight if it came to that, we did not know but for now we all stood united.

I took my place in the front line beside Emmett. Kate was on my other side, her crimson eyes shining like rubies in the reflection of grey dawn light off the snow. She smiled at me and winked at Emmett, and then said softly, “It reminds me of other times, other battles…be strong Rosalie. Never give in, for despair and hopelessness can be greater enemies than those you face across the field.”

I remembered the newborn battle against Victoria, and nodded slowly. I had been afraid then, terrified of losing Emmett, but we had fought and we had prevailed. I listened intently for a moment, hearing the steady heartbeats and soft panting breaths of the wolves, invisible in the trees surrounding the field. They were here now too.

Bella carried Renesmee and came to stand behind our line with Esme and Carmen. Benjamin and Zafrina stood with Bella so that she could hopefully use her shield to protect them, our greatest offensive weapons, if needed. The other witnesses stood to the sides, those who had declared themselves our allies if it came to a fight closer than the others.

From the woods came the enormous russet wolf that I knew was Jacob, pacing through the snow to stand beside Bella so that Renesmee could clutch his thick fur with her little hands. I could feel his breath on my back, and for once I concentrated on the warmth of it rather than the wet dog smell, and felt mildly comforted.

Ness smiled at me, and I noticed the backpack on her small shoulders, and for a second I met Bella’s eyes. _She has a plan. She thinks we’re all going to die, but she has a plan to save Renesmee._ The thought flashed into my mind and for a moment I felt so light I could have flown. Bella’s face was serious as she nodded at me slightly, and I gave her a small smile in return. As long as Ness was safe at the end of it…well then, at least it wouldn’t all have been for nothing.

The minutes ticked by, and we waited.

Emmett’s eyes were never still, scanning the surrounding forest for a glimpse of the dark cloaks we knew were coming. I looked past him to Edward, who was standing on Emmett’s other side, because I knew with his extra sense he would be the first to know they were coming. Sure enough, before anyone else saw or heard anything, Edward’s face stiffened and he hissed low between his clenched teeth, the sound travelling easily across the silent field, making everyone stand up and tense for the approaching storm.

We were ready.

The flowed out from the trees, almost beautiful as the line glided forward across the snow in perfect formation, the paler grey cloaks on the edges darkening towards the pure black centre of the three ancients. I heard the soft whisper of the cloaks, and the sounds of light feet brushing across the snow, and for a moment I thought nothing but how strange it was too see death approaching with such elegance.

There were thirty two of them. I counted rapidly, scanning the faces for ones I knew. Aro and Caius and Marcus in the centre, of course. Jane, I recognised, in her deep grey cloak close to the centre, and the other diminutive figure beside her must be her brother Alec. Felix, the big fighter of the Volturi who had once torn apart my friend in front of my eyes, was there too, and I suppressed my shudder and straightened my back at the sight of him. Behind the line hovered two shadowy figures, and I guessed that they must be the wives, away from the Volterra tower to see this slaughter of the Cullen coven.

And it would be a slaughter, if Aro wished it that way. Thirty two experienced warriors with formidable supernatural gifts, against the nineteen of us who would fight. Even with the wolves we stood no chance of winning. The best we could hope or was to go down fighting.

“The redcoats are coming, the redcoats are coming,” Garrett chanted to himself, taking a step closer to Kate. I wondered idly how many wars he had fought in as a human and vampire and then thought of Jasper, who had been a soldier for so many years. _MajorJW…where are you now, brother? I’m glad you’re not going to die with us, but I wish I could tell you that I love you and I wish you and Alice well._

As if the Volturi numbers were not enough already, behind them came their own witnesses. Other vampires moved out from the tree line with suspicious faces that showed shock and rage and anger when they saw us gathered together, Ness in the centre of the group. I knew what she must look like to them. There were more than forty of them, so even if we could make the Volturi stop, even if Bella’s shield could miraculously save us from the threat of their supernatural gifts, we would still be crushed under the sheer weight of their numbers. We were doomed.

Between the cloaked Volturi and the low, murmuring mob there was a figure who didn’t seem to belong to either group. I recognised her, the blonde hair and the tormented eyes that met Tanya’s across the snowy expanse of the field. Irina.

Edward snarled, and I tilted my head to listen as he spoke to Carlisle in a low voice. “Alistair was right.”

“Alistair was right?” Tanya was on Carlisle’s other side and her voice was sharp.

“They- Caius and Aro- come to destroy and acquire,” Edward breathed. “They have many layers of strategy already in place. If Irina’s accusation had somehow proven to be false, they were committed to find another reason to take offence. But they can see Renesmee now, so they are perfectly sanguine about their course. We could still attempt to defend against their other contrived charges, but first they have to stop to hear the truth about Renesmee. Which they have no intention of doing.”

The Volturi’s advance was slow and majestic, and none of us moved or reacted in any way as the approached. They were perhaps a hundred yards away when they finally stopped, all movement ceasing as one, their eyes moving past us to something behind… _the wolves._ Even I turned my head to see them, sixteen wolves pacing slowly out of the forest to stand at our sides. I recognised many of them, Sam and Leah and Seth and Quil and Paul and Embry, but there were others I didn’t know. New wolves, smaller than the others and with heavy, oversized paws like puppies… _children._ Children who must have barely lived, now turned into wolves because of their unfortunate proximity to my vampire family. More Quileutes had been changed and come out here to die, because even if some of them escaped the carnage now Aro would never leave them alone to live their lives. He would hunt them down and destroy them all. 

There were some mutters on our side of the field, low snarling growls from vampires and wolves alike. I didn’t make any noise. I stood close beside Emmett, watching Aro and Caius touching hands in the centre as they conferred, breathing in Emmett’s scent and hoping that we could stay together until the end.

“Edward?” Carlisle asked anxiously.

“They’re not sure how to proceed. They’re weighting option, choosing key targets- me, of course, you, Eleazar, Tanya. Marcus is reading the strength of our ties to each other, looking for weak points. The Romanians’ presence irritates them. They’re worried about the faces they don’t recognise- Zafrina and Senna in particular – and the wolves, naturally. They’ve ever been outnumbered before.”

“Outnumbered?” Tanya whispered incredulously.

“They don’t count their witnesses,” Edward answered softly. “They are nonentities, meaningless to the guard. Aro just enjoys an audience.”

“Should I speak?” Carlisle asked.

Edward hesitated, and then nodded. “This is the only chance you’ll get.”

Carlisle took a deep breath and stepped forward to speak, ready to make his move and set the final play in motion.

It had begun.


	44. Half Mortal, Half Immortal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- I just wanted to say that the next couple of chapters will be up fairly quickly; although this story is Rosalie’s interpretation of events there is a lot of dialogue in the confrontation with the Volturi that I’ve just had to take directly from the book. (Although I have also cut that down where I could without losing too much meaning.)   
> And I know I go on, but a huge thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing and messaging me with feedback- I seriously had my doubts about writing this one when I started (I mean…so much Bella! And imprinting! And Volturi battles that aren’t! And a baby that isn’t my girl Rosalie’s! So much to dislike!) but I’ve found so much more in it than I thought there was and really enjoyed writing it and talking about it. So thank you very much to all the lovely people who are making it so much fun!

Carlisle squared his shoulders and held out his hands. “Aro, my old friend. It’s been centuries.”

There was a long silence, and it was as though we were all holding our breath waiting to see how Aro would respond. At last he stepped forward from the line, a vampire that I guessed must be his shield, Renata, moving behind him as though her hand was attached to his back. This was not the move the Volturi guard had wanted and I heard the low mutters and growls of dissatisfaction. They had come here to destroy, not to listen to Aro and Carlisle spar with their pretty words.

Aro held up his hand to settle his people. “Peace,” he breathed, and then walked a few paces closer to Carlisle, looking at him with curiosity in his milky red eyes. “Fair words, Carlisle,” he said. “They seem out of place, considering the army you’ve assembled to kill me, and to kill my dear ones.”

Carlisle shook his head, holding out his hand in entreaty. “You have but to touch my hand to know that was never my intent.”

Aro narrowed his eyes. “But how can your intent possibly matter, dear Carlisle, in the face of what you have done?” There was a look of sadness on his face but I was far from convinced of his sincerity.

“I have not committed the crime you are here to punish me for,” Carlisle’s voice rang out across the frozen field, clear and honest.

“Then step aside and let us punish those responsible. Truly Carlisle, nothing would please me more than to preserve your life today.”

“No one has broken the law Aro,” Carlisle said gently. “Let me explain.”

Before Aro could answer Caius had stepped forward. “So many pointless rules, so many unnecessary laws you create for yourself Carlisle,” he sneered. “How is it possible that you defend the breaking of one that truly matters?”

“The law is not broken. If you would listen…” Carlisle tried again.

“We see the child, Carlisle!” Caius hissed. “Do not treat us as fools!”

Carlisle was still calm as he tried to press his point. “She is _not_ an immortal. She is not a vampire. I can easily prove this with just a few moments…”

“If she is not one of the forbidden, then why have you massed a battalion to protect her?” Caius cut him off.

“Witnesses, Caius, just as you have brought. Any one of these friends can tell you the truth about the child. Or you could just look at her, Caius. See the flush of human blood in her cheeks.” Carlisle gestured towards Renesmee.

“Artifice!” Caius snapped. “Where is the informer? Let her come forward! You!” He waved an imperious hand towards Irina. “Come!”

Irina’s eyes barely left her sisters as she drifted slowly towards Caius. I watched her, knowing that in going to the Volturi she had precipitated this nightmare and wanting to hate her, but somehow unable to summon up the necessary anger. What was Irina really, but a pawn in Aro’s game? If it had not been her tales of an immortal child it would have been something else.

Caius crossed the small distance Irina left between them and slapped her hard across the face, the sound ringing out through the snowy morning. It wouldn’t have hurt her, but the sudden explosion of violence was shocking and on our side Kate and Tanya hissed in unison.

“This is the chid you saw?” Caius demanded of her. “The one that was obviously more than human?”

Irina finally tore her eyes away from her sisters to look at Caius, and then looked past him, past our front line, as she sought out Ness. She squinted a little, confusion clear on her face.

“Well?” Caius growled.

“I…I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean?” Caius hissed, his voice enraged.

“She’s not the same, but I think it’s the same child,” Irina said slowly. “What I mean, she’s changed. This child is bigger than the one I saw, but…”

Caius’ furious snarl cut her off, and Aro stepped over to him and placed a hand delicately on his shoulder. “Be composed brother. We have time to sort this out. No need to be hasty.” He turned his gaze to Irina, and spoke with a gentleness that was chilling. “Now, sweetling. Show me what you’re trying to say.”

Hesitantly Irina took his hand. Aro held hers for only seconds before he released it, saying, “You see Caius? It’s a simple matter to get what we need.” He turned back to face Carlisle. “And so we have a mystery on our hands, it seems. It would appear the child has grown. Yet Irina’s first memory was clearly that of an immortal child. Curious.”

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to explain,” Carlisle said quickly. I could hear the relief in his voice- Aro had at least paused to listen. He held out his hand to his old friend in clear invitation.

“I would rather have the explanation from someone more central to the story my friend,” Aro said gently. “Am I wrong to assume that this breach was not of your making?”

“There was no breach,” Carlisle insisted.

“Be that as it may, I _will_ have every facet of the truth. And the best way to get that is to have the evidence directly from your talented son. As the child clings to his newborn mate, I’m assuming Edward is involved.” Aro raised his eyebrows.

I caught the almost imperceptible tightening of Edward’s lips. Of course Aro wanted to touch him- seeing into Edward’s mind was to have access to all of our secrets. All our plans, all our resources and talents and knowledge…Aro would have it all.

Edward kissed Bella and Renesmee briefly, and then touched Carlisle’s shoulder and strode unhesitatingly across the snow, his face impassive. There was a brief sob from Esme, immediately silenced, as she watched Edward walk towards our enemies alone. When he reached Aro he held out his hand almost benevolently, as though he was conferring an honour in allowing him to touch him. I felt a small flare of pride at the arrogance of Edward, as much on the back foot as we were he was giving Aro not an inch.

Aro too seemed rather delighted by Edward’s attitude, although the rest of the Volturi shifted in discontent, snapping teeth and hissing slightly. He stepped forward and then his hand closed over Edward’s and all we could do was watch as the Volturi leader closed his eyes and concentrated on everything he was taking in from my brother. Edward’s muscles tensed as he then read back from Aro’s head everything that he was sharing with him.

It went on for a surprisingly long time, but at last Aro straightened up, his eyes open and glittering with all the new knowledge that was his. He still did not release Edward’s hand.

“You see?” Edward said courteously.

“Yes, I see indeed,” Aro agreed, a faint smile on his face. “I doubt whether any two among gods or mortals have ever seen quite so clearly. You have given me much to ponder, young friend,” Aro continued thoughtfully. “Much more than I expected…may I meet her?” His interest suddenly sharpened. “I never dreamed of the existence of such a thing in all my centuries. What an addition to our histories!”

“What is this about, Aro?” Caius snapped furiously.

“Something you’ve never dreamed of, my practical friend,” Aro said tranquilly. “Take a moment to ponder, for the justice we intended to deliver no longer applies.” He tilted his head towards again. “Will you introduce me to your daughter?”

Sounds of shock ran through the Volturi ranks. Edward’s _daughter?_ A small smile played across Aro’s lips as Edward nodded reluctantly, and then he answered a question the rest of us hadn’t heard. “I think a compromise on this one point is certainly acceptable, under the circumstance. We will meet in the middle.”

The instant Aro dropped his hand Edward turned and walked back towards us. Aro slung an arm carelessly over Edward’s shoulder, as though the two of them were friends, raising his free hand to halt the guard that would have followed him. “Hold, my dear ones. Truly they mean us no harm if we are peaceable.” Aro and Edward were accompanied by three of the Volturi guards, and the five of them stopped in the middle of the snowy field.

“Bella,” Edward called. “Bring Renesmee…and a few friends.”

Bella straightened, resettling the slight weight of Ness in her arms. “Jacob? Emmett?” she asked quietly.

 _Emmett._ _To let you go, to watch you walk away from me and towards those who would end us if they could…_

Courage can take many forms; sometimes it is in action, and other times it comes from standing back passively and allowing others to act. For me, that moment of releasing Emmett’s hand and watching him walk away from me, towards the Volturi leader, was maybe the bravest moment of my long life. But I smiled at him as I uncurled my fingers from around his, and kept my head high as Emmett reached across and fist bumped Ness before walking at Bella’s side across the frozen ground towards the small group in the centre.

Carlisle looked at me across the empty space between us and smiled at me encouragingly. “Aro’s listening Rose,” he breathed. “How can he fail to be convinced by Ness herself?”

He and I both knew that Aro was _quite_ capable of not being convinced if it suited his purposes, but surely with so many witnesses he would have to follow his own rules? I turned my attention back to the group in the centre of the field.

“May I greet your daughter, lovely Bella?” Aro beamed at the Ness. “But she’s exquisite,” he murmured, marvelling. “So like you and Edward. Hello Renesmee.”

“Hello Aro,” she answered politely.

“What is it?” Caius hissed.

“Half mortal, half immortal,” Aro announced, loudly enough for his words to reach all the guard although he didn’t turn his fascinated eyes away from Renesmee. “Conceived so, and carried by this newborn while she was still human.”

“Impossible!” Caius snarled.

“Do you think they’ve fooled me then, brother?” Aro’s tone was light, but Caius was not the only one who flinched. “Is the heartbeat you hear trickery as well? Calmly and carefully brother. I know well how you love your justice, but there is no justice in acting against this unique little one for her parentage. And so much to learn, so much to learn! I know you don’t have my enthusiasm for collecting histories, but be tolerant with me, brother, as I add a chapter that stuns me with its improbability. We came expecting only justice and the sadness of false friends, but look what we have gained instead! A new, bright knowledge of ourselves, our possibilities.”

 _He’s listened- he believes us._ I glanced at Carlisle and saw the twitch in his jaw the belied his tension and for a moment I didn’t understand his anguish. Aro was _listening_ to us- wasn’t that a good thing? But then I replayed his words, catching the subtleties I had been too anxious to note before. He had told Caius only to wait, to tread carefully, and I knew that they must have other plans and strategies in place to achieve their aims.

And the last words he had spoken- _“our possibilities”-_ and I started to feel sick. Nessie’s birth had been a miracle, an almost unbelievable string of circumstances that had led to her conception and gestation and survival, as well as Bella’s survival. Circumstances that would be impossibly difficult to replicate, and yet I knew Aro’s fascination with the unusual and the gifted…now that he knew it could be done, would he be able to avoid the temptation to try? And if he did, how many people would die for his selfish aims? I bit back a snarl.

On the field Aro held his hand out to Renesmee, but that wasn’t what she wanted. Our brave little girl showed no fear as she stretched out her hand and laid it delicately on Aro’s cheek.

Aro was accustomed to the flow of thoughts and images from another, and as Ness communicated with him in her special way he only smiled. “Brilliant,” he whispered, as she dropped her hand and settled back into Bella’s arms.

“Please?” Ness asked him seriously.

Aro’s smile turned comforting. “Of course I have no desire to harm your loved ones, precious Renesmee.” His eyes drifted towards Jacob, and unlike the other Volturi members who had looked at the wolf with disgust, Aro’s face was almost longing. “I wonder…” he murmured.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Edward said, his voice harsh. Jacob’s large head swung towards Edward, who hissed through his teeth, “He’s intrigued with the idea of…guard dogs.”

There was a moment of stunned silence and then a chorus of furious snarls and howls from the wolves echoed round the clearing. Even I didn’t stop the snarl that rose up from my centre- I might bitch and moan about the smell and call Jacob a mangy, flea ridden dog, but the idea of _anyone_ even presuming to _think_ about using the Quileutes in that way was appalling.

“I suppose that answers that question,” Aro said with a laugh. “ _This_ lot has picked its side.” Suddenly his voice turned businesslike. “So much to discuss…so much to decide. If you and your furry protector will excuse me, my dear Cullens, I must confer with my brothers.”


	45. Caius Acts

Rather than walk back to the guard, Aro beckoned them forward. Edward immediately took Bella’s arm in one hand and Emmett’s in the other and began backing up. Jacob came last, all the fur on his back bristling.

His back to the Volturi, Emmett made a face at me, and I didn’t stop my answering smile. “Okay?” he said lightly as he took his place beside me in the line.

“Okay,” I responded softly. I touched his hand, just to make sure he was really there by my side, and then turned my attention back to the Volturi line, now only fifty yards away. It would only take a single leap for someone to attack.

“How can you abide this infamy?” Caius growled. “Why do we stand here impotently in the face of such an outrageous crime, covered by such a ridiculous deception?”

“Because it’s all true,” Aro said calmly. “Every word of it. See how many witnesses stand ready to give evidence that they have seen this miraculous child grow and mature in just the short time they’ve known her. That they have felt the warmth of the blood that pulses in her veins.” He gestured towards our friends, still standing and watching silently.

I looked around Emmett at Edward, hoping to see some hint of what he was reading from their minds, but his face was impassive. More so than Caius, who was clearly thinking hard. “The werewolves?” he murmured to Aro.

Aro looked pained. “Ah, brother…”

“Will you defend that alliance, too, Aro? The Children of the Moon have been our bitter enemies from the dawn of time. We have hunted to near extinction in Europe and Asia. Yet Carlisle encourages a familiar relationship with this enormous infestation- no doubt in an attempt to overthrow us. The better to protect his warped lifestyle,” Caius sniffed.

Edward cleared his throat loudly. “Caius, it’s the middle of the day,” he pointed out. “These are not Children of the Moon, clearly. They bear no relation to your enemies on the other side of the world.”

“You breed mutants here!” Caius spat.

Edward’s jaw clenched, and I felt his rage, but his voice was calm when he spoke. “They aren’t even werewolves. Aro can tell you all about it if you don’t believe me.”

“Dear Caius, I would have warned you not to press this point if you had told me your thoughts,” Aro murmured patronisingly. “Though the creatures think of themselves as werewolves, they are not. The more accurate name for them would be shape-shifters. The choice of a wolf form was purely chance. It could have been a bear or a hawk or a panther when the first change was made. These creatures truly have nothing to do with the Children of the Moon. They have merely inherited this skill from their fathers. It’s genetic- they not continue their species by infecting others the way true werewolves do.”

Caius eyes narrowed to slits. “They know our secret,” he said flatly.

Edward opened his mouth to answer, but Aro beat him to it. “They are creatures of our supernatural world, brother. Perhaps even more dependent upon secrecy than we are; they can hardly expose us. Carefully, Caius. Specious allegations get us nowhere.”

 _Carefully._ I was listening more intently now, both to the spoken and unspoken, and I realised that they were not done here. The Volturi would still move against us, and even as they spoke and took in our answers they were formulating new plans.

“I want to talk to the informant,” Caius announced, turning abruptly away from Aro. “Irina!” he snapped, angry when she didn’t immediately look to him. She had been looking across the field at Kate and Tanya, her expression one of abject misery as she realised her accusation had been groundless and that her sisters were lined up with us, ready to die.

“So you appear to have been quite mistaken in your allegations,” Caius said harshly.

“I’m sorry,” Irina said tremblingly. “I should have made sure of what I was seeing. But I had no idea…” She gestured towards Renesmee.

“Dear Caius, could you expect her to have guessed in an instant something so strange and impossible? Any of us would have made the same assumption,” Aro said reasonably.

Caius flicked a hand dismissively at Aro, not taking his eyes off Irina. “We all know you made a mistake. I mean to speak of your motivations,” he said shortly.

“My motivations?” Irina repeated nervously.

“Yes, for coming to spy on them in the first place,” Caius continued mercilessly. “You were unhappy with the Cullens, were you not?”

Irina flinched, and turned unhappy eyes towards Carlisle. “I was,” she said in a low voice.

“Because…?” Caius prompted.

“Because the werewolves killed my friend. And the Cullens wouldn’t stand aside to let me avenge him.”

“So the Cullens sided with the shape shifters against our own kind- against a friend of a friend, even,” Caius said deliberately.

Edward made a disgusted noise and Emmett shifted his feet restlessly. Caius was still searching, moving through his list of grievances for one that would stick.

“That’s how I saw it,” Irina murmured.

Caius waited for her to continue, and then scowled at her. “If you’d like to make a formal complaint against the shape-shifters – and the Cullens for supporting their actions – now would be the time.”

Irina straightened her spine and lifted her head proudly. Across the field I saw her smile at her sisters, at all of us, and I knew that this was what the Volturi would never understand- the power of real love and family and friendship. “No, I have no complaint against the wolves, or the Cullens,” she declared. “You came here today to destroy an immortal child. No immortal child exists. This was my mistake, and I take full responsibility for it. But the Cullens are innocent, and you have no reason to still be here. I’m so sorry,” she said, directing her heartfelt words to us before she turned back to the Volturi and said clearly. “There was no crime. There’s no valid reason for you to continue here.”

For a moment I thought that it would be finished, that the truth of Irina’s words would be enough to turn the tide in our favour. But then Caius raised his hand, and at the signal three of the guard leaped forward and converged on Irina. There were the horrible, metallic screeching sounds I had never wanted to hear again, and then Caius stepped towards the crowd and there was a sudden shower of sparks and tongues of flame. The three guards stepped back and then Caius stood alone beside the pyre, a triumphant grin on his face. “ _Now_ she has taken full responsibility for her actions.”

His eyes were on our front line, on Kate and Tanya as they watched in horror as their sister burned. He was almost taunting them…It was only when Edward shouted “Stop them!” that I realised that Caius had done this on purpose, to trigger a fight from us.

I grabbed at Kate, and then there was an instant where the whole world went black as she used her power on me and I fell. I came back to myself seconds later, crumpled in the snow with Emmett on the ground beside me and Garrett, his arms locked around Kate, convulsing with his eyes rolled back as she fought to get free.

I don’t know how Garrett could have held on to Kate as she fought so blindly to free herself, but he did. And then he blinked and shuddered and was in command of himself again, still holding a thrashing, whimpering Kate in his grip.

“Bella’s doing that with her shield,” Emmett muttered, staggering to his feet and hauling me up. “Wish she’d had it on me in time to deflect that…fuck! You okay, angel?” He peered at me anxiously, and I nodded distractedly, most of my attention on Kate and Garrett.

“If I let you up, will you knock me down again, Katie?” he whispered softly.

In his arms, the still enraged Kate only snarled and struggled harder.

“Listen to me Tanya, Kate,” Carlisle said desperately. “Vengeance doesn’t help her now. Irina wouldn’t want you to waste your lives this way. Think about what you’re doing. _If you attack them, we all die_.”

Still held in Carlisle’s arms, Tanya’s body slumped under the weight of her grief, and on the ground beside me Kate finally lay still. Garrett murmured to her, too low for anyone else to hear, and for a moment she closed her eyes and pressed her face against the ground.

Across the field, the Volturi were watching with fascination. Aro, watching Kate and Garrett, was incredulous- from Edward’s memories he knew how strong her gift was, and yet here was Garrett able to withstand it seemingly unaffected.

Behind the Volturi guard, their witnesses had grown confused and wary. They had come to witness our punishment for the creation of an immortal child, but now there was no immortal child and yet Irina had just been executed anyway, for the most nebulous of crimes. They moved restlessly, and as Aro glanced back at them with vexation I thought this his need for an audience might end up benefiting us. He could not just go ahead and slaughter us without cause, not now with people to see.

“Irina has been punished for bearing false witness against the child,” Aro said to Caius, a pacifying hand on his shoulder. “Perhaps now we should return to the matter at hand?” He drifted forward a little, looking along the scattered vampires on our side. “Just to be thorough, I’d like to speak with a few of your witnesses. Procedure, you know.”

“Amun,” Aro called on him. “Carlisle called on you to witness?”

“Yes.” Amun sounded surly, but he answered readily enough.

“And what did you witness for him?”

“I’m observed the child in question,” Amun said coldly. “It was evident almost immediately that she was not an immortal child…”

“Perhaps we should define our terminology,” Aro interrupted. “Now that there seems to be new classifications. By immortal child you mean of course a human child who has been bitten and thus transformed into a vampire.”

“Yes, that’s what I meant.”

“What else did you observe about the child?”

“The same things that you surely saw in Edward’s mind. That the child is his biologically. That she grows. That she learns.”

“Yes, yes,” Aro said, a trifle impatient. “But specifically in your few weeks here, what did you see?”

Amun frowned. “That she grows…quickly.”

Aro smiled. “And do you believe that she should be allowed to live?”

I could not stop my hiss of outrage at the idea of Ness being so casually sentenced to death. I was not the only one to protest, a wave of low sounds of fury and discontent rippled up the line. Ness herself merely looked at Amun with an interested face.

Amun glanced at our gathering a little uneasily. “I did not come to make judgements,” he muttered. “But I see no danger in the child. She learns even more swiftly than she grows.”

Aro glided along the length of line, stopping in front of Siobhan. “Hello dear Siobhan. You are as lovely as ever.”

Siobhan inclined her head graciously, waiting for a question.

“And you?” Aro asked. “Would you answer my questions the same way Amun has?”

“I would,” Siobhan answered. “But I would perhaps add a little more. Renesmee understands the limitations. She’s no danger to humans- she blends in better than we do. She poses no threat of exposure.”

“Can you think of none?” Aro asked sombrely.

A low growl ripped up through Edward’s throat and I tensed. I couldn’t see where Aro’s questioning was going, but it seemed that he had a plan.

“I don’t think I follow you,” Siobhan said slowly.

Aro drifted lightly back towards his guard, casually, as though he were merely taking a short stroll to gather his thoughts. “There is no broken law,” he said. “However, does it follow then that there is no danger? No. That is a separate issue. She is unique…utterly, impossibly unique. Such a waste it would be, to destroy something so lovely. Especially when we could learn so much…but there _is_ danger, danger that cannot simply be ignored.”

Danger? From the bright, funny little girl behind me who loved everyone and had never hurt a soul?

“How ironic it is that as the humans advance, as their faith in science grows and controls their world, the more free we are from discovery. Yet, as we become ever more uninhibited by their disbelief in the supernatural, they become strong enough in their technologies that, if they wished, they could actually pose a threat to us, even destroy some of us. For thousands of years our secrecy has been more a matter of convenience, of ease, than of actual safety. This last raw, angry century has given birth to weapons of such power that they endanger even immortals. Now our status as mere myth in truth protects us from these weak creatures we hunt. This amazing child, if we could but know her potential, know with _absolute certainty_ that she could always remain shrouded within the obscurity that protects us. But we know nothing what she will become. Her own parents are plagued by fears of her future. We _cannot_ know what she will grow to be!” He paused, looking meaningfully at his witnesses. “Only the known is safe. Only the known is tolerable. The unknown is…a vulnerability.”

“You’re reaching, Aro,” Carlisle said in a bleak voice.

“Peace friend,” Aro smiled, his face kind despite the horror he was bringing down on us. “Let us not be hasty. Let us look at this from every side.” He turned to his witnesses. “Tell us, friends, what do you think of all this? I can assure you the child is not what we feared. Do we take the risk and let the child live? Do we put our world in jeopardy to preserve their family intact?” He paced along their line. “We are outnumbered, dearest ones,” he said. “We can expect no outside help. Should we leave this question unanswered to save ourselves?”

“No master,” the Volturi guard whispered in unison.

“Is the protection of our world worth perhaps the loss of some of our number?” Aro questioned them.

“Yes!” They answered. “We’re not afraid.”

Aro smiled, a cold and pitiless smile as he turned back to his ancient companions. “Brothers,” he announced, “there is much to consider here.”

“Let us counsel,” Caius said eagerly.

“Let us counsel,” Marcus agreed disinterestedly, and the three of them joined hands and bent their heads together, their black cloaks billowing slightly around them in the breeze.


	46. Rare But Not Unique

Behind me Bella began a quick, murmuring conversation with Renesmee. _Saying goodbye._ I reached out and gripped Emmett’s hand and our eyes met in sudden, miserable understanding.

“Is there no hope then?” Carlisle asked calmly.

“There is absolutely hope,” Bella said stoutly. “I only know my own fate.”

It seemed that no one held any real hope, despite Bella’s words. Esme moved forward to stand with Carlisle, and all around me I heard murmured whispers of love and goodbye. I stared mutely up at Emmett, and then he gave me his irrepressible grin, dimples deep in his cheeks, as he took my face in his hands and kissed me passionately.

“It might be the last thing I get to do,” he told me with a chuckle. “I’m gonna make it good!”

Then he hugged me, and as I buried my face in his neck and breathed in his scent I thought that there were probably worse ways to spend your final moments than in the arms of someone you loved. It was a hell of a lot better than dying alone and broken on the cold stones of a deserted alleyway…in a way I’d been running from Death since I dodged his scythe in that alleyway seventy years ago.

“Get ready,” Bella whispered. “It’s starting.”

“Chelsea is trying to break our bindings,” Edward said softly. “But she can’t find them. She can’t feel us here…” He looked incredulously at Bella. “Are you doing that?”

Bella smiled smugly. “I am _all_ over this.”

Edward suddenly lurched towards Carlisle. “Are you all right?” he gasped.

“Yes, why?” Carlisle said in surprise.

“Jane.” Edward said. “She’s trying to hurt you…different ones of us. Incredible.” He looked at Bella with awe.

“Why aren’t they waiting for the decision?” Tanya hissed.

“Normal procedure,” Edward said brusquely. “They usually incapacitate those on trial so they can’t escape.”

Bella gripped Edward’s hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Edward whispered back.

“Is Alec trying?”

Edward nodded. “His gift is slower than Jane’s. It creeps. It will touch us in a few seconds.”

I braced myself for having all sensation disappear, watching as Alec’s horrible mist drifted closer. But just ahead of us it seemed to hit a wall, and we all watched in fascination as it curled upwards, trying to break through the invisible barrier that Bella’s shield had put in front of us. We could see, from the shimmering mist, just how solid and strong and large the shield was.

“Well done Bella!” Benjamin grinned.

Bella’s face showed no triumph, only a grim determination. “I’m going to have to concentrate,” she whispered to Edward. “When it comes to hand to hand, it’s going to be harder to keep the shield around the right people.”

“I’ll keep them off you.”

“No. You _have_ to get to Demetri. Zafrina will keep them away from me.”

Aro had been watching Alec’s mist, apparently unruffled by its uselessness, and at last he spoke. “Before we vote, let me remind you, that whatever the council’s decision there need be no violence here.”

Edward laughed, and Aro gazed at him sadly as he continued. “It will be a regrettable waste to our kind to lose any of you. But you especially, young Edward, and your newborn mate. The Volturi would be glad to welcome many of you into our ranks. Bella, Benjamin, Zafrina, Kate. There are many choices before you. Consider them.” Aro’s eyes scanned us, more intently this time as he searched for some indication of hesitation, but when he found none he bowed his head and said with apparent reluctance, “Let us vote, then.”

Caius was eager to see the violence he desired begin. “The child is an unknown quantity. There is no reason to allow such a risk to exist. It must be destroyed, along with all who protect it.”

Marcus’ face and demeanour were weary. I thought it very unlikely that this expedition of carnage and collection had been something he had felt enthusiastic over. “I see no immediate danger. The child is safe enough for now. We can always re-evaluate later. Let us leave in peace.”

“I must make the deciding vote, it seems,” Aro mused thoughtfully. I hadn’t realised that I had had any hope left, but I felt it when it shivered and vanished…after everything it would come down to Aro.

On Emmett’s other side, Edward suddenly stiffened. “Yes!” he breathed, and as I glanced at him I saw his face transformed with a glow of triumph. My fingers tightened around Emmett’s, as he too turned to stare at our brother who was looking, for no reason we could see, nothing short of victorious. “Aro?” he shouted.

“Yes, Edward? You have something further…?”

“Perhaps,” Edward said smoothly, his face now inscrutable. “First, if I could clarify one point?”

“Certainly,” Aro said graciously.

“The danger you foresee from my daughter – this stems entirely from our inability to guess how she will develop? That is the crux of the matter?”

“Yes, friend Edward,” Aro said patiently. “If we could but be positive…be _sure_ that, as she grows, she will be able to stay concealed from the human world – not endanger the safety of our obscurity…” He sighed and shrugged.

“So, if we could only know for sure exactly what she will become, then there would be no need for a council at all?” Edward suggested mildly.

“If there was some way to be _absolutely_ sure,” Aro said, with a note of tension that hadn’t been in his voice before. It was clear to all that Edward questions were leading somewhere, but it was not at all clear where. “Then yes, there would be no question to debate.”

“And we would part in peace, good friends once again?” Edward asked, his voice as sickly sweet and silky as Aro’s own.

“Of course, my young friend. Nothing would please me more” Aro said shrilly.

Edward laughed, light and exultant. “Then I do have more to offer.”

Aro’s eyes narrowed. “She is absolutely unique. Her future can only be guessed at.”

“Not absolutely unique,” Edward said to the collective astonishment of both the Volturi and our own people. “Rare, certainly, but not one of a kind.” He paused for a moment, a small smile playing over his lips as he enjoyed his moment, before he called out cheerfully, “Why don’t you join us, Alice?”

 _Alice._ Relief and fierce, overwhelming joy flooded my mind. _Alice._ She was back, she had had a plan all along… I could hear her now, the distinct and familiar cadence of her run as she came through the forest towards us, the beat of Jasper’s footsteps mingling with hers as he ran with her. They broke into the clearing, Alice’s face shining as she grinned joyously at us, Jasper more serious and intent at her heels.

Emmett smirked at me, the cock-sure grin I knew so well. “Told you they hadn’t abandoned us!” he whispered jubilantly.

Close behind came three other figures; the first one I recognised as Kachiri at the same time as I heard Zafrina and Senna’s pleased exclamation behind me; the second one was a small female vampire with a long dark braid, and the third was a young man, his dark brown skin and black hair gleaming, and his eyes…his eyes were brown. As they neared us the sound of footsteps was joined by another sound, that of a heartbeat.

Alice leapt gaily over the edges of Alec’s dissipating mist and stopped at Edward’s side, her familiar face wreathed in smiles. We all reached for her, but there was no time for anything other than the lightest touch of welcome before we had to turn our attention to the matter at hand. We were still not out of danger- having seen Alice pass easily through Bella’s shield the Volturi now knew that it would not repel a physical attack and several of the guard were now looking at us with avaricious hostility.

“Alice has been searching for her own witnesses these last weeks,” Edward said, composed. “And she does not come back empty-handed. Alice, why don’t you introduce the witnesses you’ve brought?”

Caius could see his victory teetering on the edge. “The time for witnesses is past! Cast your vote, Aro!” he snarled.

Aro did not even look at him. He raised a finger for silence and kept his eyes glued to Alice as she stepped forward and introduced the strangers with all the grace she would show at an afternoon tea.

“This is Huilen and her nephew, Nahuel.”

“Speak, Huilen,” Aro commanded. He was not rude, but the sugary sweetness was gone and he spoke with steely determination. “Give us the witness you were brought to bear.”

“I am Huilen,” the newcomer announced. Her face was nervous but she spoke clearly enough to be heard by all on the field. “A century and a half ago, I lived with my people, the Mapuche. My sister was Pire. Our parents named her after the snow on the mountains because of her fair skin. And she was beautiful- too beautiful. She came to me one day in secret and told me of the angel that found her in the woods, that visited her by night. I warned her. As if the bruises on her skin were not warning enough. I knew it was the Libishomen of our legends, but she would not listen. She was bewitched.

“She told me when she was sure her dark angel’s child was growing inside her. I didn’t try to discourage her from her plan to run away- I knew even our father and mother would agree that the child must be destroyed, Pire with it. I went with her into the deepest parts of the forest. She searched for her demon angel but found nothing. I cared for her, hunted for her when her strength failed. She ate the animals raw, drinking their blood. I needed no more confirmation of what she carried in her womb. I hoped to save her life before I killed the monster.

“But she loved the child in side her. She called him Nahuel, after the jungle cat, when he grew strong and broke her bones- and loved him still.

“I could not save her. The child ripped his way free of her, and she died quickly, begging all the while that I would care for her Nahuel. Her dying wish- and I agreed.

“He bit me though, when I tried to lift him from her body. I crawled away into the jungle to die. I didn’t get far- the pain was too much. But he found me; the newborn child struggled through the underbrush to my side and waited for me. When the pain ended, he was curled against my side, sleeping.

“I cared for him until he was able to hunt for himself. We hunted the villages around our forest, staying to ourselves. We have never come so far from our home, but Nahuel wished to see the child here.” Finishing her story, the small woman stepped a little behind Kachiri.

Aro was staring at the Nahuel, his brows lowered in thought. “Nahuel, you are one hundred and fifty years old?”

“Give or take a decade,” Nahuel smiled, “We don’t keep track.”

_One hundred and fifty. That’s older than I am…Nessie, baby girl, do you know what this means for you? So much life to look forward to!_

“And you reached maturity at what age?”

“About seven years after my birth, more or less, I was full grown.”

“You have not changed since then?”

Nahuel shrugged. “Not that I’ve noticed.” He seemed quite at ease as he glanced curiously along our line and over at the Volturi.

“And your diet?” Aro pressed. The fascination in his eyes as he sought answers reminded me of Carlisle, and the way he had looked as he has tested the newborn Renesmee.

“Mostly blood, but some human food too. I can survive on either.”

“You were able to create an immortal?” Aro asked intently, gesturing to Huilen.

“Yes, but none of the rest can,” Nahuel answered.

_The rest?_

Aro’s face betrayed his shock. “The rest?”

“My sisters,” Nahuel shrugged.

Aro was staggered, but he rapidly composed himself. “Perhaps you would tell us the rest of your story, for there seems to be more.”

“My father came looking for me a few years after my mother’s death,” Nahuel said, and I could tell by his clipped tones that this displeased him. “He was pleased to find me. He had two daughters, but no sons. He expected me to join him, as my sisters had.

“He was surprised I was not alone. My sisters are not venomous, but whether that’s due to gender or a random chance…who knows? I already had my family with Huilen, and I was not _interested_ in making a change. I see him from time to time. I have a new sister; she reached maturity about ten years back.”

“Your father’s name?” Caius asked through clenched teeth.

“Joham,” Nahuel answered. “He considers himself a scientist. He thinks he’s creating a new super-race.” His lip curled with disgust and I felt my own stomach clench. I remembered all too clearly how Bella had suffered, and the idea of these women, alone in the jungle, suffering like that but without the benefit of knowledge or our medical care, such as it was, made me feel sick. How could anyone do that?

Caius glared at Bella. “Your daughter, is she venomous?”

I remembered how often Ness had bitten Jacob as an infant. No, she was not venomous.

Caius was determined, even in the face of the mounting evidence in our favour, to see vengeance done. “We take care of the aberration here, and then follow it south,” he growled at Aro.

I watched Aro carefully. Emmett traced his thumb over the back of my hand, but apart from that tiny movement he was motionless, staring at Aro too, as we all waited for his next words. We knew that the back and forth couldn’t continue- it was time for Aro to make a decision.

“Brother,” he said softly. “There appears to be no danger. This is an unusual development, but I see no threat. These half-vampire children are much like us, it appears.”

“Is that your vote?” Caius demanded.

Aro’s voice was low. “It is.”

Caius scowled. “And this Joham?” he said aggressively, obviously determined to find a victim somehow. “This immortal so fond of experimentation?”

“Perhaps we _should_ speak to him,” Aro conceded.

“Stop Joham if you will,” Nahuel said flatly. “But leave my sisters be. They are innocent.”

Aro nodded solemnly before he turned back to his guards with a warm smile. “Dear ones, we do not fight today,” he declared, and almost instantly his guards straightened from their ready positions and stood in perfect formation again. Caius was seething with rage but said nothing, and Marcus looked as disengaged from the proceedings as he ever had as they all began to drift away as smoothly and majestically as they had arrived.

Aro faced us one last time, holding his hands out almost apologetically. “I’m so glad this could be resolved without violence,” he said sweetly. “My friend, Carlisle – how pleased I am to call you friend again! I hope there are no hard feelings. I know you understand the strict burden that our duty places on our shoulders.”

“Leave us in peace, Aro,” Carlisle said stiffly, and for a moment my heart ached for him. We were safe for now, Nessie was safe- but the ripples from today’s storm would be felt for a long time to come. Carlisle’s optimistic nature had been badly shaken by the actions of ones he had once considered friends, and that could not be brushed aside instantly. “Please remember that we still have our anonymity to protect here, and keep your guard from hunting in this region.”

“Of course Carlisle,” Aro assured him, as if nothing would give him more pleasure than doing as Carlisle asked. “I am sorry to earn your disapproval, my dear friend. Perhaps, in time, you will forgive me.”

“Perhaps, in time, if you prove a friend to us again.”

Aro bowed his head remorsefully, and drifted backwards for a moment before he turned around and strode after his companions. My family and friends watched in silence as the last of the Volturi disappeared into the trees, and even then there was no sound.

“Is it really over?” Bella whispered.

Edward turned to her with a smile that illuminated his face. “Yes. They’ve given up.”

Alice laughed. “Seriously, people. They’re not coming back. Everybody can relax now.”

“Of all the rotten luck,” Stefan muttered gloomily.

There was a final beat of silence and then the knowledge crashed over us all like a joyful wave. We had won. _We were safe._ The elation made itself felt and heard in rapturous cheers and shouts from the vampires and howls from the wolves as people converged on each other, hugging and kissing and sharing their relief. I could feel my own smile spreading across my face and then I was suddenly engulfed in the overwhelming sensations of a bear hug from Emmett- all massive chest and strong arms and the beautiful, bewitching smell of him as he kissed me exultantly.

“Hey pretty girl,” he murmured. “You got any plans? Because my life is suddenly looking like it’s going to last a lot longer than I thought it would five minutes ago, and I wouldn’t mind spending some of that time with you. If you’re not busy.”

I laughed, and kissed him again with my eyes sparkling. “I think I can find the time.”


	47. Together Again

“Rosalie! Emmett!” Alice squirmed into the centre of our hug and with a laugh Emmett widened his arms to accommodate her.

“Welcome back, freak,” he said to her affectionately. “You too, bro,” he added to Jasper. “Nice timing there.”

Jasper grinned and disentangled himself from Esme’s fierce embrace. Standing behind me he wrapped one arm around me, so that I was sandwiched between him and Alice, and reached across her to clap Emmett on the shoulder. “Alice _did_ manage it all beautifully, didn’t she?”

I snorted. “Beautifully? Letting us all think we were going to be _slaughtered_? Really nice…I could kill you both!”

Alice giggled and kissed me soundly on both cheeks. “Oh Rose, I love you too.”

“That we do, darlin’,” Jasper said in his slow drawl, his mouth inches away from my ear. “We do love you, and we missed you, _roseofjericho_ … how far did you manage to track us anyway?”

“I caught your withdrawal from the bank in Sao Paolo,” I said with a shrug. “I knew you were in Brazil, but I’m guessing if you were in the jungle you weren’t online much after that?”

Alice giggled again. “Not exactly! And I _am_ sorry Rosalie, we’ll explain it all, but it had to be that way,” she added, looking at me beseechingly.

I sighed. “How can I be angry when you’ve saved all our skins? Nessie…” my breath caught. “To know that we don’t have to worry about her! We’re not going to lose her…Alice, you’re amazing.”

Emmett suddenly reached over my shoulders and grabbed Jasper around his neck and pulled him closer, crushing Alice and I in the middle of a four way hug. “I knew you two had a plan,” he said hoarsely. “I _knew_ you wouldn’t have just fucked off to save yourselves!”

Alice beamed at him. “I knew you’d have faith in us Emmett…it’s nice to know someone did!” And then the four of us just hugged, together again and with the entirety of forever stretching out before us.

The Romanians were already making their sulky, stealthy way across the field and away. Back to Romania I supposed, back to watch and wait and plot their revenge for another few centuries.

“They’re disappointed with how it turned out,” Edward told me, noting my gaze on the departing figures. He laughed. “But they enjoyed the Volturi’s cowardice…it made it almost worthwhile for them.”

I laughed too. “You did well today, Edward.”

 _“Bella_ did well,” he corrected me, looking with besotted eyes at Bella, who was hugging Nessie and leaning against Jacob’s furry side. “And Alice and Jasper…we were lucky, really.”

Benjamin came to stand by Edward’s side, his crimson eyes crinkled up in a friendly smile. “Lucky, yes…but we were also in the right, and it is good that truth won out over the lies today.” He inclined his head towards Carlisle. “And while I thank you for your hospitality, Tia and I must take our leave. If we hurry we’ll catch up with Amun and Kebi- they’ll like to know how things turned out, and I would like to make things right with them.”

Carlisle gripped his hand. “We can’t thank you enough Benjamin, Tia. Please, thank Amun and Kebi on our behalf too- the outcome would have been very different had we not had all our friends here today.”

“Of course,” Benjamin nodded. “Amun may not have been the bravest and most vocal of your supporters here Carlisle, but he respects you and I know he’ll be unhappy to think there is any bad feeling between you.”

“None at all,” Carlisle said softly, shaking his head. “We all did what we felt was right. Tell Amun that he has all my thanks for his help, and hopefully next time we all meet it will be under more agreeable circumstances.”

Peter and Charlotte had a brief conversation with Jasper and took their leave too. Mary travelled with them and the three of them left straight from our field. Randall walked alongside Emmett and I as we made our haphazard way back to the house, and then he too said goodbye.

“I need some warm weather,” he told us with a grin. “Why you live in this frozen wasteland I’ll never know! You ever feel like some nice Nevada heat you can come down and we’ll hit up Vegas together,” he said, his eyes lingering on Emmett before he added as an afterthought, “You too, Rosalie.”

I didn’t even bother to roll my eyes. Emmett was mine- what harm could Randall do to me with his unrequited crush? And really, who would understand better than me why it was Randall found Emmett so irresistibly attractive?

The Amazon coven left once we were back at the house, Zafrina making Bella promise to bring Nessie down for a visit one day. The Irish gathered up their few possessions and then took their leave as well.

“Of course, this isn’t over,” Siobhan, the leader said seriously, as she bade Carlisle farewell. “The Volturi won’t forgive what happened here.”

Edward was standing nearby and answered her. “They’ve been seriously shaken; their confidence is shattered. But, yes, I’m sure they’ll recover from the blow someday. And then…I imagine they’ll try to pick us off separately.”

“Alice will warn us when they intend to strike,” Siobhan said confidently. “And we’ll gather again. Perhaps the time will come when our world is ready to be free of the Volturi altogether.”

“That time may come. If it does, we’ll stand together,” Carlisle said, with a fond smile at his old friend.

“Yes, my friend, we will,” Siobhan agreed. “And how can we fail, when _I_ will it otherwise?” She laughed heartily, still not believing Carlisle that she could have an impact on the outcome of situations.

Our Alaskan cousins were the last ones to leave. They were glad that the Volturi had not been able to carry out their plans today, but it had all come at a terrible price for them. Irina had been their sister for centuries, and now she was gone.

“I’m so sorry, Kate,” I said quietly, embracing her.

“Thank you Rosalie,” she said tiredly. Her hand touched my cheek. “I’m sorry I shocked you out there…I hope it wasn’t too bad.”

I grimaced. “Well I certainly know what it’s like now! But please don’t worry about it; anyone would have done the same thing.” I gripped her hand tightly. “I wish it had turned out differently for you all- Irina didn’t deserve that.”

“No, she didn’t,” Kate sighed. “It was a mistake, a foolish mistake…but I’ll bide my time, Rosalie, and Caius will be sorry one day.”

I nodded soberly. I didn’t doubt that my fierce friend would one day wreak vengeance on Caius, and I also didn’t doubt that he deserved it for his heartless, unnecessary cruelty in bringing the final death to Irina as he had.

Garrett wandered over and wrapped his arms around Kate, smiling at me amiably. “I’ll be going back to Alaska then,” he said cheerfully. “Looks like after all this time I might be going to give your diet a wee bit of a try.”

I laughed. “That will be something to see!”

Kate winked at me. “We’ll keep him on the straight and narrow! Come visit soon, and I’m sure you’ll see a big change.”

“Ah, but I’ll be a handsome one with those weird yellow eyes,” Garret said complacently. “So now, gorgeous Rosalie, I’m going to say goodbye and take my Katie back home.”

And so with quiet words and hugs and waves, we said goodbye to the Denali coven as well as they went home to deal with their grief. Then it was just the family left gathered in the living room, along with the fascinating pair of Nahuel and Huilen. I had been a little surprised when they hadn’t returned to the Amazon with Zafrina and Senna and Kachiri, but it was understandable that they’d be interested to stay and learn more about Nessie.

Emmett held his arms out to me and I settled onto his lap, feeling myself relax and settle in his familiar embrace, his gentle hands idly winding my long braid of hair around his fingers as he listened to Edward talk of the confrontation with the Volturi. We’d all been there to see it, but with his mind reading abilities Edward had a more complete view on it than anyone else.

“Alice gave Aro the excuse he needed to get out of the fight. If he hadn’t been so terrified of Bella, he probably would have gone ahead with their original plan.”

“Terrified?” Bella said, startled. “Of me?”

“The Volturi haven’t fought a fair fight in about twenty-five hundred years. And they’ve never, never fought one where they were at a disadvantage. Especially since they gained Jane and Alec, they’ve only been involved with unopposed slaughters. You should have seen how we looked to them!” Edward grinned gleefully. “Usually Alec cuts off all sense and feeling from their victims while they go through the charade of a counsel. That way, no one can run when the verdict is given. But there we stood, ready, waiting, outnumbering them, with gifts of our own while their gifts were rendered useless by Bella. Aro knew that with Zafrina on our side they would be the blind ones when the battle commenced. I’m pretty sure our numbers would have been pretty severely decimated, but _they_ were sure that theirs would be too. There was even a good possibility that they would lose. They’ve never dealt with that possibility before. They didn’t deal with it well today.”

“Hard to feel confident when you’re surrounded by horse-sized wolves,” Emmett laughed, prodding Jacob in the arm.

Jacob grinned at him, so elated by the victory and the acknowledgement of the wolves’ role in it that his smile even included me.

“It was the wolves that stopped them in the first place,” Bella said.

“Sure was,” Jacob said cockily.

“Absolutely,” Edward agreed. “That was another sight they’ve never seen. The true Children of the Moon rarely move in packs, and they are never much in control of themselves. Sixteen enormous regimented wolves was a surprise they weren’t prepared for. Caius is actually terrified of werewolves. He almost lost a fight with one a few thousand years ago and never got over it.”

Alice was tucked under Edward’s arm, and had been looking around the room with clear pleasure at being home. Now she suddenly laughed lightly, and leaned forward to look at Bella with a sigh. “Just get if off your chest, Bella.”

“How could you do that to me, Alice?” Bella exclaimed.

“It was necessary,” Alice said amiably.

“Necessary!” Bella snapped. “You had me totally convinced that we were all going to die! I’ve been a wreck for weeks.”

“It might have gone that way,” Alice said reasonably. “In which case you needed to be prepared to save Nessie.”

“But you knew there were other ways too. You knew there was hope. Did it ever occur to you that you could have told me everything? I know Edward had to think we were at a dead end of Aro’s sake, but you could have told _me.”_ Bella pouted.

“Oh, take it down an octave, Bella,” Alice said. “Do you have any idea how _complicated_ this was to set up? I couldn’t even be sure that someone like Nahuel existed- all I knew was that I would be looking for something I couldn’t see! Try to imagine searching for a blind spot- not the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Plus we had to send back the key witnesses, like we weren’t in enough of a hurry. Before any of that, I had to try to see every trick the Volturi might come in with and give you what few clues I could so you would be ready for their strategy, and I only had just a few hours to trace out all the possibilities. Most of all, I had to make sure you’ll all believe that I was ditching out on you, because Aro had to be positive that you had nothing left up your sleeves or he never would have committed to an out the way he did. And if you think I didn’t feel like a schmuck-“

Alice smiled at me, and I smiled back and stroked Emmett’s arm, turning my head slightly to inhale his scent and press my lips against his neck. “You never believed that they’d just abandoned us.”

“Nope,” Emmett chuckled. “I’ve known you and Jasper for fifty years now Alice, and I knew you had some kind of scheme going on!”

“Well, I’m just glad it all came together at the right time,” Alice murmured, looking across at Nahuel.

I couldn’t keep my eyes away from him either. It was fascinating to see all the little things that we had thought made Nessie unique make themselves known in this beautiful adult male body. I listened for his heartbeat, automatically registering that it was faster than a human but not quite as fast as Renesmee’s. His skin had the same luminescence that hers did, and as I watched him move and remembered seeing him run I saw how all that was like Nessie too- more graceful and faster and stronger than a human, but not quite as much as a full vampire.

Nahuel himself sat easily on the sofa, talking little, his eyes constantly straying towards Bella and the figure of Nessie, asleep in her lap. I realised with a slight twinge of unease that Nahuel was looking at the only female of his species that wasn’t a sister, and I flicked my eyes unwillingly towards Jacob, who was sprawled out on the rug looking satisfied and unconcerned.

Shaking my head slightly I settled myself a little more closely against Emmett, feeling his arms tighten around me in response. I didn’t think I’d ever quite forgive Jacob for imprinting on the baby and inveigling his way into our family the way he had. The practical part of me recognised that the imprinting had solved a lot of issues between Bella, Jacob and Edward, and having the wolves on our side had _definitely_ been a stroke of good fortune when it came to the confrontation with the Volturi but at the same time the whole idea left me uneasy. All well and good for those three to have their problems solved, but what about Renesmee? Maybe she’d grow up and never want anything other than Jacob, but what if maybe one day she decided she wanted to get to know someone more like her? Someone like Nahuel? Or even do what her father had done and find a human?

With a sigh I pushed the thoughts away. There was nothing I could do, and right now Ness was just a baby asleep on her momma’s lap and there was no point inviting trouble. It would all have to be dealt with one day, but that day was not today. Not when I could sit, feeling so safe and loved, in Emmett’s arms and feel the relief and joy of knowing that we had survived the Volturi confrontation unscathed. 


	48. And Life goes On

Bella and Edward made their excuses a little later and carried Ness back to their cottage to sleep. Before they left Bella paused at the side of my chair, holding the sleeping Nessie so that I could plant a cool kiss on her forehead.

“Goodnight baby girl,” I whispered tenderly. I didn’t think it would ever not hurt, just a little bit, that she wasn’t my baby and that there never would be a baby that was mine and Emmett’s, ours to lay gently in a crib or have sleep peacefully in between us. But I had learned to love Ness for what she was, not what I wished she could be, and learned that love was much stronger than any jealousy.

“Thank you for today,” Bella whispered. “It means a lot to me that you stood with us, that you would have given your lives if it came to that. Both of you,” she added, smiling at Emmett too. “Saying thank you doesn’t seem really like enough for all that you’ve done for me since I’ve known you.” She looked embarrassed.

I brushed a stray curl back from Nessie’s forehead. “You’re family Bella, and that’s what family does.”

“And you’re immortal now, so you’ve got eternity to make it up to me,” Emmett said with a cheerful laugh. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

Bella laughed, and Edward took her arm and shook his head at Emmett. “Nice try, Em,” he said with a grin. “But thanks all the same.”

The three of them disappeared into the dark forest, and Jacob loped off towards the reservation at the same time.

“So he _does_ have a home?” I muttered sarcastically.

Carlisle shook his head at me, but he was smiling. “You can’t be too hard on him Rose, the wolves really saved the day today. I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t been there to make the Volturi stop. It could have all been over before Alice made it back.”

“They certainly impressed Aro, I’ll say that,” I said, then covered my mouth to hide my mirth. “Although his idea of using them as _guard dogs_ …was there ever anyone more stubborn and pigheaded and less likely to bow down to authority than Jacob Black?”

“I might know _one_ person,” Emmett said in a stage whisper, making everyone else laugh as I scowled at him. He smiled back angelically. “You know I wouldn’t have you any other way, baby.”

I snapped my teeth at him teasingly, and he winked back. I wasn’t particularly offended, I knew he was joking and it was hardly the first time the family had paid me out about being stubborn!

“What do you think will happen now?” I asked Carlisle directly. “You know the Volturi won’t forgive us for what happened today.”

A faint trace of unease crossed Carlisle’s face, quickly hidden. “Perhaps, perhaps not. I doubt many of the witnesses realised what Bella was doing with her shield and how many friends we had with particular gifts who willing to fight with us. Even most of the Volturi guard probably aren’t fully aware. It is possible for Aro to play this off in a way that turns it to his advantage with the vampires in Volterra…and we all know he is nothing if not politic.”

I considered his words. “You mean, he might make it seem like it was all because he’s so benevolent and fair?” I said sceptically.

Carlisle shrugged. “It’s a possibility. Don’t forget how old Aro is Rosalie- he thinks in terms of centuries, not years, and he is playing the long game in Volterra. Aro will not risk his power and influence until he is sure of winning.”

“He knows all the secrets now,” I said edgily. “Bella’s shield, and Benjamin and Zafrina and Ness and the wolves…”

“But we’ll see him coming Rosalie,” Alice said surely, leaning towards me with a smile. “We’ll see him coming and we’ll deal with it, just like we did this time.” She sat back with a satisfied smile, snuggling into Jasper.

“We _will_ deal with it, Rosalie,” Jasper added in his quiet, determined way. “If it ever becomes necessary, anyway, and as Carlisle said, it may not come to that. And I may be mistaken, but I believe we’ve started something here today. We’ve exposed the Volturi for what they are and word will spread…we aren’t the only ones who won’t be content to live under a tyrant’s rule. It may well be that our actions have begun the cracks that will undermine the Volturi’s rule and one day bring about their fall.”

“It is definitely an interesting world outside of the Amazon,” Nahuel observed with a smile. “I have spent almost no time away from our jungle home, so this has been a big adventure. I did not realise that there were such politics and intrigues in the vampire world!” He laughed gently, and we laughed with him.

“Thank you for coming,” Esme said in her soft voice. “We appreciate it so much- not only for what happened today with the Volturi, but for giving us more knowledge about Renesmee.”

“She’s a lovely child,” Nahuel said sincerely. “And to still have her mother…she is very lucky.”

His face looked sad, and I couldn’t help remembering with a shiver of deep unease the fervour in Aro’s eyes as he had looked at Ness and murmured of her _possibilities._ So much potential for heartbreak if Aro decided a hybrid was something he wanted and set about attempting to create his own! I didn’t want to bring down everyone’s mood of euphoric relief, but I knew the nagging doubts would haunt me.

“Carlisle,” I said a little hesitantly. “Do you think that Aro will…he was so intrigued with Nessie and he does like to possess what fascinates him …might he try and create his own…” I stumbled awkwardly over my words.

Carlisle smiled a little wryly. “You caught that then? I wondered if anyone would.”

I shrugged. “You know me, always suspicious of people’s motives!”

“Yes, it doesn’t surprise me that you’re the one to raise the issue!” Carlisle grinned at me, and then his smile faded and his jaw set. “I know what you’re asking Rosalie, and I know why you’re concerned. The truth is though, I don’t know. All I can do is hope that Aro doesn’t decide to try and make his own children- I sincerely doubt it would be possible for anyone in Volterra to maintain the necessary control to father a child on a human woman. Honestly, I can’t imagine it’s feasible for very many vampire men at all…possibly only the particular circumstances of Edward with Bella made it possible.”

“Yeah, you can count me out of that,” Emmett said with a grimace. “I wouldn’t fancy my chances of…ouch!” He gave me a wounded look, rubbing his belly where I’d just dug in my elbow. “I was just speaking _hypothetically_ , angel!”

Jasper snorted. “You break houses Emmett- no one is letting you within a hundred yards of a human female.”

I rolled my eyes impatiently, half sorry I’d even raised the subject in the first place! I hoped Carlisle was right though, and that once news of Nessie’s birth and parentage leaked out through the vampire world it didn’t lead to any misguided or sadistic vampires attempting to follow his example.

“Oh Rosalie, cheer up!” Alice said chirpily. “We don’t need to worry for a long time, if ever, and I’ll keep an eye out for it. For now all we have to do is enjoy Nessie growing up and enjoy being together. And Emmett’s going to…”

“Shut up!” Emmett said to her in agitation. “Can’t a man have any secrets around here?” He kissed the side of my neck and his fingertips traced lightly along my spine. “Don’t listen to her, baby, she doesn’t know anything.”

Alice laughed, and I shook my head and rose gracefully to my feet. In the end the day’s confrontation with the Volturi probably hadn’t been a permanent victory, but it had given us room to rest and breathe and regroup. And things always change, I reminded myself…after all, two years ago I had never even _heard_ of Bella Swan. Who knew what would happen in the future, and what we’d be up to the next time Aro decided to make a move against us? I could feel myself lighten, and behind my back I trailed my fingers across Emmett’s arm and felt him grasp his hand.

Nahuel and Huilen stayed with us for a fortnight. They were lovely guests, and in Nahuel’s obvious vitality and rugged health we saw a long and beautiful life for our Renesmee, and we loved him for removing the burden of her unknown future. Ness was fascinated by the ways he was like her and the two of them became good friends, making her feel rather woebegone when she finally had to say goodbye.

 “You’ll see him again,” I said to her later that afternoon, as she, Emmett and I sat on our bed while she played with my jewellery.

“We could go and visit them in the Amazon,” she said, cheering up as she draped a strand of diamonds over Emmett’s head while he obligingly sat still. “Zafrina too. I liked having so many people visiting us.”

“I like it when it’s just our family too,” I mused, smiling as Ness added a tiara to Emmett’s curls and then looped a string of pearls over it so that it hung down over his forehead. “Now you look fancy,” she told him in satisfaction.

I smiled softly, idly playing with a charm bracelet as I watched the tiny girl hand Emmett a necklace and ask him to fasten it around her neck, which he did with solemn care.

 “I’m glad Alice and Jasper came back,” Renesmee said thoughtfully. “I know that you told me that they would, but Momma really didn’t think so.”

I smiled. “I’m glad they came back too.”

Thinking of Jasper, I glanced over at the open laptop on the end of the bed, which I had left running a new program he and I had written, hoping it would crack the security on the Volturi’s computer system. We had no current reason to want to hack it, but I hated to admit failure at any challenge. With Jaspers help I was hopeful we’d break it eventually. On the screen the lines of code changed, and I gave a shriek that was loud and sudden enough to startle Renesmee. “Jasper!”

He was in my room in an instant, Alice at his heels. “What?”

“Look!” I snatched up the computer and showed it to him. “We’re in!” I typed another few commands. “We’re through that firewall and if I just…oh. Damn.”

Jasper leaned over my shoulder to look, and then both of us exchanged shocked glances before we broke out in laughter. Instead of getting into the heart of the computer system as we’d hoped, we’d hit a black screen flashing a simple message.

“What does it say?” Emmett asked.

“Thank you _roseofjericho_ and _majorJW_! But our princess is in another castle!” I read giggling. “Those bastards! Who would have thought someone in the Volturi had such a sense of humour?”

Jasper hit a couple of keys. “Someone called _lordofvolterra_ is responsible for that. I wonder who it is…Aro?”

I shrugged. “It’s hard to picture him being a computer geek, to be honest. But then…who knows? Oh well Jas, we’ll keep working on it and we’ll get in one day.”

“Not today though,” Alice announced cheerfully, untangling some of the jewellery from Emmett’s neck with a significant look. “Emmett and Rosalie need to get packing, because…”

Emmett leaped to his feet and clapped a hand across her mouth. “I told you, pipsqueak…keep it shut!”

“Where are we going?” I asked blankly.

“Just up to the cabin for a few days,” Emmett said, whisking into the closet. There was the sound of clothes hangers being shuffled and drawers being slammed and then he emerged a minute later with his old backpack. “There, packing is done.” He dropped to a crouch at the side of the bed and looked up at me entreatingly. “Come away with me baby doll, just for a little while…you need this.”

I looked down at him and smiled as I lifted the tiara off his dark curls. “I’d love to.” I thought of the small mountain cabin Emmett had built for us for our first honeymoon and all the time we had spent there since, with nothing to distract us from the joy and pleasure of being together. I thought of lying stretched out before the huge stone fireplace, watching the sun set over the hills, with Emmett lying solid and beautiful beside me, and my heart yearned for that solitude that we felt so rarely. He was right- I did need that. “It’s a wonderful idea. But let me pack, and see if I can borrow the Ferrari from Bella.”

“I told you, packing is done,” Emmett said breezily. “Throw in your laptop and a hairbrush and you’re good. You don’t need anything else, because I’m going to get you naked and keep you that way…”

“Renesmee,” I reminded him sternly. “Watch what you say.”

Emmett made a face at me but didn’t say anything else. Renesmee hadn’t been listening anyway, but was hastily divesting herself of the jewellery and putting it all back in the jewel chest. “Can I come too?”

“Nope,” Emmett said, swinging her up in his arms and tossing her skywards. “Not to the cabin, Monster…that’s just for me and Rosalie. You stay home this time.”

Renesmee looked half shocked that she was being denied something. “But…”

“But nothing,” Emmett said cheerfully. “You stay home and play with your dog, and we’ll be back in a couple of weeks. And speaking of the dog…” he murmured with a grin at Alice and Jasper. “Come on baby,” he said to me, lifting Renesmee up to sit on his shoulders. “Let’s go.”

I followed him down the stairs. “Will I ask Bella about the Ferrari?” I asked. “I really can’t stand the vomit in the BMW…I have to trade it in, I can’t…”

“We’re not taking the Ferrari,” Emmett said to me.

“The Jeep? I suppose…”

“Not the Jeep either,” Emmett grinned, and I noticed Carlisle and Esme had come out of the study and were hovering in the background. Clearly something was up, and I looked suspiciously at Emmett, who dimpled at me in response as he gestured to the front door. “But we could take that, if you want…”

Wrenching open the front door I couldn’t hold back my whoop of joy at the sight that met my eyes. A brand new convertible, cherry red Audi Cabriolet, and I felt like I was flying as I leapt to catch the keys that Emmett tossed high at me and then slithered into the front seat. “Oh, Emmett, it’s beautiful! It’s perfect and new and I love it! How did you choose and…. _why does it smell like dog?!”_

Hands on the steering wheel I glared at the group standing on the front steps laughing at me. Jacob Black was grinning the widest as he took Ness from Emmett’s arms. “If you lifted your leg on my new car….” I began threateningly, but Emmett vaulted into the car behind me and kissed me hard enough to cut off my words.

“Settle, angel girl,” he said in amusement. “I wanted it to be a surprise and _someone_ had to pick it up for me. God knows no one can get Edward to focus his love addled brain on anything but Bella right now, so Jake’s been helping me decide what to get you. He said this was what you’d want, and he picked it up for me this morning. Good choice?”

“Oh,” I said, feeling a little foolish at my overreaction. “That was…well. Yes, excellent, _brilliant_ choice. Thank you, Jacob.” I ran my hand across the paintwork and the dash with a small squeak of enjoyment. So smooth and sleek and shiny new! “I love it.” I couldn’t stop my grin as I looked over at Jacob and Ness. “Didn’t know you had such good taste.”

Jake grinned back. “Well, it’s no Volkswagen Rabbit, but it seemed like the kind of show off thing you’d like…”

I laughed and fiddled with my key ring for a minute. “You know, I won’t be needing my BMW for a while…if you don’t have any real objection to show off cars you could take Ness for a ride in it and start her on the road to appreciating quality automobiles. We don’t want her to end up like her mother.” I tossed across the BMW keys to Jacob. “It’s not as though the smell of vomit has a chance against the smell of dog.” But my tone wasn’t nasty, and Jacob laughed as he expertly caught the keys in one hand.

“Thanks Blondie,” he chuckled. “What do you say, Ness? Wanna come be a race car driver with me?” The two of them headed off to the garage.

With a last kiss for Emmett I started the new car, listening to the roar and feeling the power of the engine. “Oh…nice…” I crooned, and then I laughed joyously and took off with a spray of gravel. “Emmett…I love my new car! And I love you!”

He laughed back, his eyes glowing as he took in my happiness, and for a moment he reached over and the two of us clasped hands. His grip was strong and familiar and I knew that right then there was nowhere else I’d rather be than where I was, flying along the road with my Emmett, the two of us together knowing that all our family were safe and would be waiting for us when we returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- And that’s the end! Thanks to everyone for reading and leaving me comments and messages, it really means a lot I’m grateful to anyone who takes the time. Not just for this story but all my other ones too, because this one would never have been written if people hadn’t asked me to do it. I admit I was doubtful about how I could make this work, but I have had loads of fun trying and hope it reads okay. As always the Rosalie character kicked ass and Emmett was adorable so it was definitely worth having a go at it! So thanks again, and hopefully I’ll be back writing something else one day!  
> As always, I freely and fully acknowledge that this story and the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer and say thank you very much to her for giving us her imaginary friends and the world they live in to play with!


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